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Bureau of Mines Information Circular/1984 




Manganese Availability— Market 
Economy Countries 

A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 



By Joseph S. Coffman and Cesar M. Palencia 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



Information Circular 8978 



Manganese Availability—Market 
Economy Countries 

A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 
By Joseph S. Coffman and Cesar M. Palencia 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
William P. Clark, Secretary 

BUREAU OF MINES 
Robert C. Horton, Director 



As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior 
has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural 
resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water re- 
sources, protecting our fish and wildlife, preserving the environmental and 
cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for 
the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The Department assesses 
our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that their development is 
in the best interests of all our people. The Department also has a major re- 
sponsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who 
live in Island Territories under U.S. administration. 






Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: 



Coffman, Joseph S 

Manganese availability— market economy countries. 

(Information circular / United States Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Mines ; 8978) 

Bibliography: 25 

Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27:8978. 

1. Manganese industry. 2. Manganese mines and mining. I. 
Palencia, Cesar M. II. United States. Bureau of Mines. III. Title. 
IV. Series: Information circular (United States. Bureau of Mines) ; 
8978. 



JQN2&5.U4 [HD9539.M32] 622s [333.8'5] 84-600014 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 



PREFACE 

The purpose of the Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability Program (MAP) is to assess the 
worldwide availability of nonfuel minerals. The program identifies, collects, compiles, and 
evaluates information on active, developed, and explored mines and deposits, and on mineral 
processing plants worldwide. Objectives are to classify domestic and foreign resources, to 
identify by cost evaluation resources that are reserves, and to prepare analyses of mineral 
availabilities. 

This report is part of a continuing series of Minerals Availability Program reports that 
analyze the availability of minerals from domestic and foreign sources and the factors that affect 
availability Analyses of other minerals are currently in progress. Questions about the Minerals 
Availability Program should be addressed to the Chief, Division of Minerals Availability 
Bureau of Mines. 2401 E St., NW., Washington, DC 20241 



_J 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface iii 

Abstract 1 

Introduction 2 

Commodity overview 2 

Industrial applications 

Production 3 

Ore and concentrates - 3 

Manganese ferroalloys 

Geology 4 

Resources 5 

Country* manganese resource summary 8 

Australia 8 

Brazil 9 

Serra do Navio Mine 9 

Azul, Buriturama. and Sereno Deposits 

(Carajas Mineral Province^ 9 

Santana Mine 9 

Urucum Mine 10 

Other mines 10 

Gabon 10 

Ghana 11 

India 11 

Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh area 11 

Balaghat Mine 12 

Kandri Mine 12 

Mansar Mine 12 

Tirodi Mine 12 

Ukwa Mine 12 

Keonjhar District 12 

Karnataka (Mysore) area 13 

Other mines 13 



Page 

Country manganese resource summary — Con. 

Mexico 13 

South Africa 13 

Resources 13 

Operations 14 

Kalahari Field 14 

Black Rock area 15 

Mamatwan Mine 15 

Middleplaats Mine 15 

Wessels Mine 15 

Postmasburg Field 16 

Ferroalloy smelters 16 

United States 16 

Upper Volta 17 

Alternate sources of supply 17 

Sea nodules 17 

Stockpile 17 

Engineering and economic analyses 18 

Mining 18 

Beneficiation 18 

Transportation 19 

Smelting 20 

Production cost summary 21 

Availability of market economy country manganese 23 

Potential total manganese production 23 

Potential annual manganese production 24 

Conclusions 24 

References 25 

Appendix. — Mines and deposits investigated but 

not evaluated for this study 26 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

1. Joint U.S. Geological Survey-Bureau of Mines resource classification system 5 

2. Relationship of demonstrated and identified resources included in this study 5 

3. Demonstrated ore resources evaluated in this study, by country 5 

4. Location of market economy country manganese mines and deposits 7 

5. Manganese ore resources of South Africa, by grade 14 

6. U.S. ferromanganese production and imports and manganese ore imports, 1970-81 16 

7. Market economy country manganese production costs 21 

8. Relationship of cost elements through manganese ore and concentrate production 22 

9. Relationship of cost elements through ferromanganese production 22 

10. Cost and total availability of world manganese 23 

11. Cost and annual availability of world manganese 24 



TABLES 



1. Market economy country manganese ore and concentrate production, 1976-82 3 

2. Market economy country manganese ferroalloy production, 1976-81 4 

3. Reserve-resource classification categories by organization 6 

4. Market economy country manganese mine and deposit data 6 

5. Estimated South African manganese resources, total and used in this study 14 

6. Manganese land transportation distances and modes 19 

7. Estimated manganese ore and concentrate ocean shipping rates 20 

8. Annual manganese ferroalloy capacities and ore requirements of major ore importing and exporting countries 2 1 

9. Manganese ore and ferromanganese transportation costs, comparing smelting in South Africa and in the 

United States 22 

10. Manganese ore and ferromanganese transportation costs, comparing smelting in France and in the United 

States 22 



VI 



UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT 



Btu 


British thermal unit 


m 


meter 


ft 3 


cubic foot 


mm 


millimeter 


kg 


kilogram 


|xm 


micrometer 


kg/m 3 


kilogram per cubic meter 


pet 


percent 


km 


kilometer 


ton 


metric ton unless 


lb 


pound 




otherwise noted 



MANGANESE AVAJ LABILITY— MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 
A Minerals Availability Program Appraisal 

By Joseph S. Coffman 1 and Cesar M. Palencia 3 



ABSTRACT 



To determine the availability of manganese for metallurgical purposes from selected world 
resources, the Bureau of Mines evaluated the potential production of contained manganese in 
concentrates based on the demonstrated resources of 23 foreign and 8 domestic mines and 
deposits in 9 market economy countries. All but 2 of the 23 foreign deposits are operating mines; 
none of the domestic deposits are in operation. 

The demonstrated resources of the mines and deposits used in this study represent an in situ 
ore resource of approximately 2.2 billion tons, 3 containing 780 million tons of manganese with a 
total recoverable production potential of 514 million tons of contained manganese in 
concentrates. The analyses of mines and deposits in this study indicate that about 213 million 
tons of the contained manganese (41 pet) is potentially available at a January 1981 constant 
dollar long-run total cost of up to $1.50 per long ton unit (22.4 lb, or 10.15 kg contained Mn), 
approximately 428 million tons (83 pet) is potentially available at a cost of about $1.75 or less, 
and 491 million tons (95 pet) is available at less than $3.30. The remaining 23 million tons, 
which is potentially available at much higher costs (about $8 to $35 per unit), represents the 
U.S. deposits. On an annual basis, with a cost range of up to $1.75 per long ton unit, the 
availability from currently operating mines would last at least 80 years based on 1980 world 
production data. Total manganese production costs are estimated to comprise mining — 8 pet, 
beneficiation — 3 pet, transportation — 26 pet, and smelting — 63 pet. 

Metallurgist - Mining engineer. 
Minerals Availability Field Office. Bureau of Mines. Denver, CO. 
' L'nless otherwise noted, "tons" refer to metric tons. 



INTRODUCTION 



Manganese is a vital element in an industrial society; 
virtually all steels must contain some manganese to 
improve malleability. No other metal can be substituted 
for this purpose. Over 90 pet of all manganese produced is 
used in the ferrous and nonferrous metallurgical indus- 
tries for improving metal strength and workability 
qualities. The remaining amount is used in the battery 
and chemical industries. 

The United States is highly dependent on imports for 
its supply of manganese and has no resource that could 
economically offset an interruption of foreign supply. In 
1981, the United States imported approximately 265,000 
tons of manganese ores and concentrates and 620,000 tons 
of ferromanganese, which represented an apparent 99-pct 
import dependence (17, p. 96)." 

The purpose of this report is to evaluate selected 
domestic and market economy country resources of 
manganese for metallurgical application. Individual mine 
and deposit evaluations were performed on the basis of 
tonnage, grade, and cost of production. 

In 1982, about 11.6 million tons of manganese ore was 
produced in 21 market economy countries. Production in 
the nine countries used in this study accounted for more 
than 98 pet of this total. Since a high percentage of all 
manganese produced is used in the metallurgical indus- 
try, this study includes only resources suitable principally 
for metallurgical use. 

In this study, final engineering and economic evalua- 
tions were performed on 31 mines and deposits. This 
includes eight U.S. deposits analyzed in a recent report on 
the availability of U.S. manganese (10). A total of 52 
deposits were investigated; however, 21 were excluded 
from the final analysis because their demonstrated 
tonnages were negligible or the product was used in the 



battery and/or chemical industries. Deposits investigated 
but not included in the final analysis are shown in the 
appendix. 

The procedure for conducting this study was to 
identify and define demonstrated manganese resources 
and the engineering and economic parameters that would 
affect production from these selected deposits. Capital 
investment and operating costs for the mining and 
beneficiation methods were estimated, and a cost analysis 
for each deposit was performed. Allowances were made for 
mine and mill recoveries of manganese from each deposit, 
and results are reported on the basis of U.S. dollars per 
long ton unit (22.4 lb or 10.15 kg) of recoverable 
manganese contained in the concentrates. Estimated 
production costs are in constant January 1981 dollars and 
include all required costs to deliver the material to 
existing ferromanganese smelting areas, according to 
assumed delivery patterns. The long-run operating costs 
were estimated to cover mining and processing of the 
entire demonstrated resource of each mine and deposit. 
Estimated ferromanganese smelting costs are presented 
to assess their relative effect on total production costs. 

Total resources evaluated amount to about 2.2 billion 
tons of in situ material with about 779 million tons of 
contained manganese. From this, about 514 million tons 
of manganese (metal content) is recoverable after all mine 
and mill recoveries have been applied. This addresses 
greater than 98 pet of all known demonstrated resources 
at current mining grades. All resources are estimated as 
of January 1, 1980. 

U.S. ferromanganese production has been declining 
in recent years. The current annual capacity available for 
production is 250,000 to 350,000 tons, much of which is 
shut down. 



COMMODITY OVERVIEW 



Manganese is the 12th most abundant element in the 
Earth's crust, and thus manganiferous occurrences are 
relatively widespread. It is a relatively low-value com- 
modity of abundant supply and is used in larger quantities 
than other ferroalloy materials. 

Manganese occurs in the form of numerous mineral 
assemblages of varying constituents or mixtures of one or 
more minerals. The most important economic minerals 
include bixbyite, braunite, cryptomelane, hausmannite, 
jacobsite, pyrolusite, rhodochrosite, romanechite (psi- 
lomelane), and wad. With the exception of rhodochrosite, 
which is a carbonate, all these minerals are oxides or 
mixed oxides and silicates. 

The physical and chemical properties of manganese 
enhance its strategic value in that other elements can 
rarely substitute satisfactorily for the use of manganese 
on a cost-effective basis. No workable substitutes have 
been found for the metallurgical uses of manganese; only 
in chemical uses may substitutions be made. Manganese 
metal oxidizes readily and as metal by itself has no 
practical use. 



4 Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding the appendix. 



In ancient times, oxides of manganese were used as 
colorizers and decolorizers for ceramics and glass; 
elemental manganese was first isolated in 1774. Man- 
ganese additions to steel began with experiments in 1839 
which demonstrated that manganese increased the mal- 
leability of steel. Large-scale usage of manganese for steel 
alloying began in 1856 with the addition of spiegeleisen (a 
low-grade ferromanganese) to the bessemer steel process. 
In 1888, high-alloy, wear-resistant steels were developed. 
The invention of the wet galvanic electric cell led to the 
development of the dry cell battery in 1886, which 
currently represents one of the largest nonmetallurgical 
uses of manganese. Oxides of manganese combine easily 
with a wide range of organic and inorganic acids which 
are utilized in the chemical industry (3, pp. 653-654). 

Nearly all manganese resources are located at 
relatively great distances from the major consuming 
centers in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A certain 
amount of manganese concentrate production is processed 
into ferroalloys or used in direct blast furnace application 
in countries where it is produced, although the majority is 
shipped to the major consuming centers. 

International trade in manganese concentrate is 
restricted to a relatively small number of users, principal- 



ly consuming steel mills and intermediate ferroman- 
ganese producers. Some manganese producers have sales 
contracts with steel mills which may hold an equity 



investment in the mine itself. A relatively small amount 
of manganese concentrate production is sold on the spot 
market. 



INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS 



The metallurgical uses of manganese involve the 
application of raw ore in various forms and its use in the 
manufacture of manganese ferroalloys. The ores are 
utilized as a smelting aid in the blast furnace and in the 
manufacture of manganese ferroalloys; the ferroalloys are 
usually added to the ladle in steelmaking. 

The use of manganese in the production or manufac- 
ture of steel begins with additions of manganiferous 
materials to the blast furnace charge as an enhancement 
to smelting. This can be in virtually any form or grade, 
such as ore, sinter, slag, scrap, manganiferous iron ore, 
etc. In some areas, iron ores are manganiferous to the 
extent that little or no additional manganese ore is needed 
in the process. 

The principal value is in the manganese acting as a 
sulfur scavenger and as an enhancement to smelting in 
that it increases refractory lining life. A certain amount of 
the blast furnace manganese is passed on to the steel 
furnaces, where it reduces slag viscosity. 



It is estimated that in terms of total manganese metal 
(content^ consumed from all sources — that is, manganese 
ores and lower grade manganiferous iron ores — about 45 
pet is used in the blast furnace {9, p. 29). It is estimated 
that about one-half of this is from manganese ores that 
contain less than 35 pet manganese. The remainder would 
be from low-grade manganiferous iron ores and ferrugi- 
nous manganese ores that are not primarily mined for 
manganese. 

The value of manganese as an alloying agent is its 
property for improving various qualities of iron and steel. 
It enhances the toughness, hardening properties under 
working conditions, hardness, and overall strength of 
steels. Virtually all steels contain certain amounts of 
manganese (0.5 to 1.5 pet.) The wear-resistant alloys 
(Hadfield steels) contain about 10 to 14 pet manganese. 



PRODUCTION 



ORE AND CONCENTRATES 

Market economy country annual manganese ore and 
concentrate production in 1982 is estimated to be 
approximately 11.6 million tons. Production data for 
1976—82 are shown in table 1. 

The centrally planned economy countries historically 
produced approximately 45 pet of the world's manganese 



ore; however, these countries as a bloc have become net 
ore importers in recent years. It has been estimated that 
the U.S.S.R. requires much more manganese per unit of 
crude steel than does the United States, presumably 
because of lower grade ores, lower manganese recoveries, 
and the use of high-sulfur coke (9, p. 4). 

The grades of the ores and concentrates shown in 
table 1 vary between considerable limits, and since data 



Table 1.— Market economy country manganese ore and concentrate production, 1976-82 

(Thousand tons) 

Oc Manganese, pet 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 

37-53 2.154 1,389 1.241 1,723 2,019 1,448 

Bolivia 28-54 12 9 1 11 1 1 

B-az 38-50 1,696 1,515 1.916 2,258 2,281 2,042 

Z* e 32-36 24 18 24 25 28 25 
Egypt 28- 44---- 

GSbori 50-53 2.216 1.850 1.710 2,299 2,146 1,487 

Ghana 30-50 312 292 316 272 252 225 

Qreace 48-50 8 10 7 5 5 5 

India 10-54 1.834 1.865 1,619 1,755 1,645 1,526 

ndonai a 47-56 10 6 5 6 5 3 

33- 40 40 30 20 

Hay 30 4 9 10 10 9 9 

Japan 24-28 142 126 104 89 80 87 

Korea 23-40 1 1 1 - - - 

MexiCO 27- 453 487 523 493 447 578 

Morocco 50-53 117 114 126 136 132 110 

P* pp-nes 35-45 11 21 4 4 3 3 

Sour* Afnca 30-48- 5451 5.047 4.345 5,182 5,694 5,038 

Thatend 46-50 50 77 73 35 54 11 

Turkey 27-46 17 19 68 42 42 15 

tinted Stale 12-13 233 196 283 218 158 159 

fenuafU 40-44 35 23 21 11 

Yugoslavia 30- 19 25 27 30 30 31 

Za.re 30-57 182 38 - - 16 31 

Totl NAp 15.025 13.181 12,454 14.624 15.047 12.834 

-rated NAp Not applicable - Negligible 

' Mmor amounts (less than 500 tons) were also produced by Pakistan. Peru, and Sudan 
2 Ferruginous manganese ore and manganiferous iron ore 

Source Reference 19 Converted from short tons by the factor: short tons x 907 ■ metric tons. 



1982° 



1,132 

1,300 

24 

1,512 

132 

5 

1,466 

4 

9 
82 

509 

94 

3 

5,215 

8 

5 

29 

31 
4 



11,564 



Table 2. — Market economy country manganese ferroalloy production, 1976-81 

(Thousand tons) 

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 

Country FeMn SiMn FeMn SiMn FeMn SiMn FeMn SiMn FeMn 

Argentina 24 (5 36 6 25 10 37 16 35 

Australia 50 15 71 24 95 - 86 20 86 

Austria 8 - 7 - 7 - 9 - 8 

Belgium 84 - 55 - 87 - 90 - 85 

Brazil 99 63 129 75 118 106 133 128 141 

Canada 80-60-70-41 - 86 

Chile 8 2 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 

France 365 12 358 21 390 19 440 13 470 

Germany, Federal Republic .... 280 - 225 - 225 - 223 - 225 

India 176 - 193 10 220 3 189 5 162 

Italy 78 42 75 40 90 43 89 54 83 

Japan 632 373 527 334 455 303 603 299 569 

Korea, Republic 29 - 36 •- 47-53 - 54 

Mexico 54 17 100 27 107 34 123 31 125 

Norway 348 169 244 127 273 133 337 184 296 

Peru - - - - 1 - 1-1 

Portugal 55 2 55 5 78 15 75 15 74 

South Africa 350 22 310 22 330 22 560 45 500 

Spain 133 91 141 63 134 109 148 119 120 

Sweden - 7 

Thailand 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 

Turkey - - 1 - 1 - 1-1 

United Kingdom 122 - 69 - 69 - 137 - 52 

United States 438 117 303 109 248 129 288 150 171 

Venezuela - - - - - - 1 1 2 

Yugoslavia - - 54 9 36 28 45 29 44 

Zimbabwe - - - - - - 3 - 3 

Total 3,437 964 3,055 872 3,112 954 3,718 1,109 3,397 

8 Estimated. - Negligible. 

Source: Reference 18. Converted from short tons by the factor: short tons x 0.907 = metric tons. 



1981 s 



SiMn 



FeMn 



SiMn 



15 


34 


14 


19 


85 


19 


- 


8 


- 


— 


90 


- 


134 


128 


122 


- 


109 


- 


- 


5 


- 


21 


315 


9 


- 


233 


- 


5 


209 


9 


45 


81 


54 


310 


570 


283 


- 


64 


- 


31 


125 


30 


168 


224 

1 

73 


198 


17 


18 


60 


450 


50 


123 


92 


63 


- 


1 
91 


- 


171 


175 


157 


2 


2 


2 


28 


54 


29 


- 


2 


- 



1,149 



3,221 



1,057 



are not available on the amounts produced at specific 
grades, it is difficult to determine the average manganese 
content. It is estimated that average annual production of 
about 13.7 million tons from 1976 to 1982 would contain 
an annual average of 5.0 to 6.0 million tons of manganese 
(5.3 million tons in 1981). The weighted average grade of 
the ores and concentrates produced from the mines and 
deposits in this study is about 44 pet contained man- 
ganese. 

The United States is almost totally dependent on 
imports for its supply of manganese. Production of ore is 
limited to manganiferous iron ore. The average grade of 
all ore produced in the United States in 1980 and 1981 
was about 12 to 13 pet manganese. This ore was used in 
various ceramic applications, such as brick coloring, and 
for direct additions to the blast furnace. Ore imports by 
country vary considerably from year to year; in 1981 and 



1982 South Africa was the largest supplier of metallurgic- 
al ore. 



MANGANESE FERROALLOYS 

Ferromanganese and silicomanganese account for 
nearly all the manganese ferroally production. Market 
economy country production of manganese ferroalloys 
from 1976 through 1981 is shown in table 2. 

As can be seen in the table, production of ferroalloys 
has increased in the ore-producing countries of Australia, 
Brazil, India, Mexico, and South Africa. The other 
ore-producing countries of Gabon and Ghana as yet have 
no smelting facilities. The largest consistent U.S. sources 
of ferromanganese are South Africa and France. 



GEOLOGY 



Manganese deposits are classified into four geological 
types: hydrothermal, residual, metamorphic, and 
sedimentary (15, pp. 10-14). Hydrothermal manganese 
deposits are normally made up of carbonates and oxides of 
manganese minerals along with other hydrothermal 
minerals such as barite, fluorite, and sulphides. Examples 
of hydrothermal vein-type and replacement deposits 
include the rhodochrosite ore at Butte and Phillipsburg, 
MT. 

Residual deposits are formed near the surface by 
weathering processes. Large deposits of economic sig- 
nificance include the Serra do Navio Deposits in Brazil, 
Moanda in Gabon, Nsuta in Ghana, and several occur- 
rences in Australia and India. 
Metamorphic occurrences are generally in the form of 



low-grade silicates and rarely if ever have any economic 
value. 

Sedimentary manganese deposits contain the largest 
portion of world economic manganese. These deposits are 
subdivided into several subclasses as shown below: 

1. Volcanogenic deposits are those in which the 
manganese can be related directly or indirectly to volcanic 
sources. The Nsuta Mine in Ghana is considered to be in 
this class. 

2. Nonvolcanogenic sedimentary deposits include 
those where the manganese is not related to any volcanic 
source. The more important manganese deposits of this 
type include Groote Eylandt in Australia, the Morro do 
Urucum area in Brazil, and the Maharashtra-Madhya 
Pradesh area in India. 



3. Metasedimentary manganese deposits associated 
with iron formations are identified in Brazil and South 
Africa. The iron formation units are entensive and cover 
relatively great distances: however, the associated man- 
ganese beds within these formations vary in thickness and 
continuitv. 



4. Ocean floor nodules cover vast areas in the Pacific, 
Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The nodules are found at all 
depths of the ocean, but higher grades are usually found 
within the deeper basins at great distances from land 



areas. 



RESOURCES 



Resources are defined according to the mineral 
resource-reserve classification system developed jointly by 
the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines 
(21). This classification is shown diagramatically in figure 
1. The position of the resources included for this study is 
shown by the crosshatched areas. 

The selection of 23 foreign and 8 domestic mines and 
deposits for this study includes over 98 pet of the known 
demonstrated resources at current mining grades for 



. m :-:* :■ 


EWCt - 


v :;■.-;«. -E?,-.--. : 


,-..,....,. 




■ onae 






'•;■■: 1 Speculate 




i : *.;■«: 


V///77 






1 

+ 

+ 
1 


w - - : i vi - . - 
BDOMM E 


: 


Z/77/P, 


bOM 


sue- 





- grade '-•a'c o ! 



Figure 1.— Joint U.S. Geological Survey-Bureau of Mines 
resource classification system. 




TotoI Identified = 994 million tons 

Figure 2.— Relationship of demonstrated and Identified 
resources Included In this study (in situ contained man- 
ganese). 



market economy countries. In terms of contained man- 
ganese, deposits evaluated in this study contain 780 
million tons of demonstrated (measured plus indicated) 
and 994 million tons of identified (measured plus 
indicated plus inferred) resources (fig. 2). The demonstra- 
ted resources evaluated in this study by country are 
illustrated in figure 3. 

Manganese resource estimate compilations have been 
made by several organizations. Correlation of these 
compilations with each other and this study in many cases 
is quite difficult, if not impossible, because of the different 
classification criteria used. 

A summary of world manganese resources was made 
by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1973 (5). A later world 
estimate was made in 1979 as a combined effort by the 
U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines (4). 
The South Africa Minerals Bureau also presented an 
estimate of world resources in 1979 (6). The most recent 
comprehensive study (1981) was completed by the 
National Materials Advisory Board (15). 



Ghana 

9 million tons 
India 
1 1 million tons 



Upper Volta 
9 million tons 

Mexico 

8 million tons 



United States 
39million tons 




Total = 780 million tons 

Figure 3. — Demonstrated ore resources evaluated in this 
study, by country (in situ contained manganese). 



Table 3.— Reserve-resource classification categories by 
organization 



Organization 



Reserves and/or resource 
classifications 



U.S. Geological Survey (1973) 

Bureau of Mines-Geological Survey 

(1979). 
South Africa Minerals Bureau 

(1979). 
National Materials Advisory Board 

(1981). 

Minerals Availability Study (1980). 



Reserves and conditional 

and hypothetical resources. 
Reserves and other (resources). 

Reserves and resources. 

Measured, indicated, and inferred 
reserves and submarginal and 
hypothetical resources. 
Demonstrated and Identified 
resources resources 

(measured plus (measured plus 

indicated) indicated plus 

inferred) 



Source: References 4-6 and 15. 



A summary of the manganese resource classification 
used by these different organizations is shown in table 3. 
The table illustrates a difficulty in correlating manganese 
resource estimates because there are no established 
standards for the categorization of in situ manganese ore 
resources. Resources are reported in terms of ore, product, 
contained manganese in ore or product, or a mixture of 
any of these. In addition, classification includes reserves, 
resources, measured, indicated, inferred, other, condition- 
al, hypothetical, etc., all assessing the same material and 
from essentially the same sources of data. 

Table 4 contains the total demonstrated and iden- 
tified resources of mines and deposits in market economy 
countries as interpreted from published and other 
available sources. The resources analyzed for this study 
are identified by footnote 5. The demonstrated resources 



Table 4. — Market economy country manganese mine and deposit data 





Owner and/or 


Map 


Deposit 


Annual output 
capacity as of 


Type of 


Average 

in situ grade, 

pet Mn 




Resources, 4 


million tons 


Country and mine 


Demonstrated 


Identified 


or deposit 


operator 


index 1 


status 2 


1981, thousand 


operation 3 


In situ 


Contained 


In situ 


Contained 










tons 






material 


manganese 


material 


manganese 


Australia: 






















Groote Eylandt 


Broken Hill Proprietary 
Co. 


20 


Prd 


2,500 


OP 


41 


308 


5 126 


490 


201 


Brazil: 












Azul-Buhtirama-Sereno 


. Companhia Vale do 
Rio Doce (CVRD). 


11 


Expl 


NA 


NA 


42 


65 


5 27 


65 


27 


Santana 


Compania Pavulista 
de Ferro Ligas. 


12 


Prd 


120 


UG 


46 


5 


5 2 


30 


1.4 


Serra do Navio 


Industria Comercio e 
Minerios S.A. 
(ICOMI). 


10 


Prd 


1,200 


OP 


39 


23 


59 


23 


9 


Urucum 


CVRD 

.NAp 


12 
NAp 


Prd 
NAp 


250 


UG 
NAp 


45 
NAp 


72 


5 32 


102 


46 


Total Brazil 


1,570 


165 


70 


220 


96 


Gabon: Moanda 


Cie. Miniere de 
I'Ogooue (Comilog). 


15 


Prd 


2,300 


OP 


44 


400 


5 176 


467 


205 


Ghana: Nsuta 


Ghana National 
Manganese Corp. 


17 


Prd 


300 


OP 


31 


30 


5 9 


30 


9 


India: 












Maharashtra-Madhya 


Manganese Ore India, 


18 


Prd 


320 


OP/UG 


46 


10 


5 5 


20 


9 


Pradesh area 


Ltd. 




















(includes Balaghat, 






















Kandri, Munsar, 






















Tirodi, Ukwa). 






















Karnataka (Mysore): 






















Bisgod 


. Mysore Minerals Ltd. 


17 


Prd 


45 


OP 


44 


2 


5 1 


2 


1 


Keonjhar District 


. Various owners 

. NAp 


19 
NAp 


Prd 
NAp 


300 


OP 
NAp 


40 
NAp 


12 


5 5 


20 


8 


Total India 


665 


24 


5 11 


42 


18 


Mexico: Tetzintla-Molango. 


Compani Minera 
Autlan. 


9 


Prd 


550 


OP/UG 


28 


30 


5 8 


230 


69 














South Africa: 






















Black Rock area 


Associated 


16 


Prd 


2,000 


UG 


44 


132 


5 58 


132 


58 


(includes Gloria, 


Manganese Mines 




















Nchwaning, 


of South Africa Ltd. 




















Nchwaning West) 


(AMMOSAL). 




















Southern Farms 


. ..do 


16 


Ppd 


NAp 


NAp 


33 


10 


3 


10 


3 


Other AMMOSAL 6 - 7 . . . 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


36-40 


7 


3 


7 


3 


Do" 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


30-40 


12 


4 


12 


4 


Do 67 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


38-40 


377 


147 


509 


199 


Do 67 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


30-38 


402 


137 


1,913 


650 


Do 6 ' 7 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


20-30 


126 


32 


1,400 


350 


Mamatwan 


South African 
Manganese Amcor, 
Ltd. (SAMANCOR). 


16 


Prd 


2,200 


OP 


38 


433 


6 165 


433 


165 






















Middleplaats 


. ..do 


16 


Prd 


1,000 


UG 


38 


40 


5 15 


40 


15 


Wessels 


. ..do 


16 


Prd 


1,125 


UG 


44 


208 


5 92 


208 


92 


Lohathla 


. ..do 


16 


Prd 


520 


OP 


33 


5 


5 2 


5 


2 


Other SAMANCOR 67 


..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


36-40 


11 


4 


11 


4 


Do 6 - 7 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


36-40 


19 


7 


19 


7 


Do 67 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


30-38 


614 


209 


2,992 


1,017 


Do 6 - 7 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


20-30 


200 


50 


2,163 


541 


Do 6 7 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


30-38 


179 


61 


852 


290 


Other companies 6 


South African Iron and 
Steel Industrial 
Corp. Ltd. (ISCOR). 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


20-30 


i04 


26 


1,159 


290 


Do 6 


. Minerts 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


44 


20 


9 


20 


9 


Do 6 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


30-38 


51 


17 


244 


83 


Do 6 


. ..do 


16 


Expl 


NAp 


NAp 


20-30 


62 


16 


693 


173 



See footnotes at end of table. 



Table 4. — Market economy country manganese mine and deposit data — Continued 



Country and mine 
or deposit 


Owner and or 
operator 


Map 
index' 


Deposit 
status-' 


South Amca — Con 

Other companies 6 — Con 

" do 5 ^. : 

Do 6 

Do 6 

Do 6 

Total South Afnca 


Armco Bronne 

do 

Texas. Gulf 

.do 

NAp 


16 
16 
16 
16 

. . NAp 


Expl 
Expl 
Expl 
Expl 

NAp 



Identified 



. Resources, 4 million tons 

Annual output Averaqe 

capacity as of Type of in Sltu gr s ade Demonstrated 

1981. thousand operation 3 pet Mn In situ Contained In situ Contained 

,ons material manganese material manganese 



NAp 
NAp 
NAp 
NAp 



6.845 



United States 
Hardshell 
Maggie 



Sunnyside 

Maple Mountam- 

Hovey Mountain 
North Aroostook 

Distnct (Dudley and 

Getot Hill) 
Cuyuna North Range 

(southwest portion) 
Butte distnct (Emma 

Mine). 
Three Kids 



fl 

Anzona Manganese 

Corp 
Standard Metals Inc 
Various owners 



Various owners 



( 8 ) 



Total United States 



Upper Voita 
Tambao 



Grand total 



The Anaconda Co. 

Income Investment 

Inc. 
NAp 



Societe Miniere de 
Tambao 

NAp 



2 

1 

6 

NAp 

13 



Expl 
Expl 

Expl 
Expl 

Expl 



Expl 
Expl 
Expl 
NAp 

Expl 



NAp 
NAp 

NAp 

NAp 

NAp 



NAp 
NAp 
NAp 
NAp 

NAp 



NAp 
NAp 
NAp 
NAp 


30-38 
20-30 
30-38 
20-30 


NAp 


NAp 


NAp 
NAp 


15.0 
8.8 


NAp 

NAp 


10.5 
8.9 



51 

40 

9 

7 



17 241 

10 446 

3 42 

2 77 



3,119 



1,089 13,628 



NAp 



95 



NAp NAp 



14,730 



NAp 


78 


NAp 


180 


NAp 


132 


NAp 


NAp 


NAp 


54 


NAp 


Nap 



6 

8 

25 
260 

63 

49 

1 

7 



5 1 
5 1 

5 3 
5 23 



6 
8 

40 
260 

63 



5 4 140 

9 1 

5 1 15 



419 



39 533 



16 



29 



4,511 



1,537 15,671 



82 

112 

14 

19 



4.182 



4 
23 



11 
9 
2 



48 



16 



4,844 



NAp Not applicable 
' Refer to figure 4 

2 Status of deposit: Prd — operating. Expl — explored. Ppd — past producer 

3 Type of operation: UG — underground. OP — open pit 
* Rounded to nearest 1 million tons 

5 Resources used m this study. 

6 "Other" refers to resources that are not delineated by location, thickness, specific grade, 
' Manganese grade ranges averaged as follows for contained manganese, in pet: 

Range Average Range Average 



depth, etc, or that are below current mining grade 



36-^0 38 
30-^0 35 
38-M) 39 
8 Property not under ownership 
; Less than 500.000 tons contain 


30-38 
20-30 

ed manga 


34 
25 

nese. 




T A 

1 •? 


s \_v ^V\ 


/-^ 






Figure 4. — Location of market economy country manganese mines and deposits; index numbers refer to table 4. 



used in this study are based on estimates of quantities 
existing in the foreign mines and deposits at or above 
current mining grades shown for the producing mines in 
table 4; the U.S. deposits contain about 12 to 13 pet 
manganese. The resource locations are shown in figure 4. 
The resources used in this study compared to total 
published resources listed in table 4 are shown below (in 
million tons of contained manganese): 



Resources evaluated in this study 
Total resources (table 4) 



lonstrate 


d Identified 


780 


994 


1,537 


4,844 



In the total demonstrated resources (contained man- 
ganese) there is a difference of about 757 million tons 
(1,537 minus 780), which is accounted for by the difference 
in classification of materials in South Africa. This results 
from the inclusion of resources in the total quantity that 
are below the current mining grade or that cannot be 
defined as to location, dimensions, depth, ore thickness, 
etc. 

The resources used for South Africa are an adaptation 
of data published by Taljaardt (16) in which the resources 
are identified by ore types, grade, and various company 
ownership. The ore types include the Wessels, which is of 
higher grade with a relatively high iron content, and the 
Mamatwan, which is lower grade with a low iron content. 

In the Wessels category 340 million tons of plus 
40-pct-Mn material were analyzed in this study, or about 
83 pet of the Taljaardt estimate of 409 million tons. 

In the Mamatwan category 4/3 million tons of 38- to 
40-pct-Mn material were used in this study, or about 3.6 



pet of the Taljaardt total estimate of 13.2 billion tons in 
grades of 20 to 40 pet Mn. Taljaardt estimated a total of 
982 million tons of Mamatwan-type ore at 38 to 40 pet Mn, 
of which only the 473 million tons used could be identified 
as to location, thickness, depth, etc. 

Even with the varied interpretations of resource data 
by different organizations, land-based manganese re- 
sources of the market economy countries are vast in 
comparison with future requirements. In fact, only seven 
major operations, Serra do Navio in Brazil, Groote 
Eylandt in Australia, Moanda in Gabon, and the Black 
Rock area (three mines), Wessels, Middleplaats, and 
Mamatwan Mines in South Africa, after allowing for mine 
and mill recoveries, could supply the market economy 
estimated demand for at least 80 years based on 1976-81 
average production. 

The grade ranges and resource quantities estimated 
by Taljaardt for the Wessels and Mamatwan ore types 
follow: 

Ore type and Estimated resource 

grade, pet Mn quantity, million tons 
Wessels: 

+ 44 330 

40 to 44 30 

36 to 40 18 

30 to 40 31 

Total 409 

Mamatwan: 

38 to 40 982 

30 to 38 6,286 

20 to 30 5,938 

Total 13,206 



COUNTRY MANGANESE RESOURCE SUMMARY 



AUSTRALIA 

The principal manganese deposit in Australia is the 
Groote Eylandt, owned by Broken Hill Proprietary Co. 
Ltd. and operated by a subsidiary, Groote Eylandt Mining 
Co. Ltd. The mine has been in operation since 1966. A 
number of smaller deposits not included in this study are 
located in Western Australia, Queensland, New South 
Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. 

The Groote Eylandt Deposit occurs as a relatively flat 
tabular stratum deposited over an irregular basement 
rock. Sandy clay and laterized conglomerates which vary 
in thickness and lateral extent overlie the ore body. The 
ore in turn lies on consolidated sands and clays with 
claystones and mudstones; the principal ore minerals are 
pyrolusite, cryptomelane, and psilomelane (12). 

It is estimated that there was approximately 308 
million tons of demonstrated material remaining as of 
January 1980, containing an average of 41 pet man- 
ganese. There is possibly another 110 million tons in other 
areas of the deposit that have only been minimally 
explored (12). 

The deposit is mined by open pit methods and is 
worked in a series of separate quarries for grade control. 
The mine has a capacity of about 5 million tons of ore per 
year and can produce about 2.5 million tons of product. It 
is estimated that to mine the total resource the 



cumulative waste-to-ore ratio will be about 2.5 to 1. The 
maximum haulage distance to the concentrator is about 
20 km. 

The concentrator consists of four sections: crushing, 
feed preparation by washing and screening, scrubbing and 
dewatering, and heavy-media separation. The concentra- 
tor produces products of varying grades in both lump and 
fine sizes. The concentrate grades vary from a little over 
41 pet to about 52 pet. A high-silica lump product is also 
produced that is used in the production of silicoman- 
ganese. The concentrate is hauled about 16 km to a 
storage area near the port where the various grades are 
reclaimed, blended, and shiploaded by conveyor. 

The high-carbon ferromanganese capacity of Austra- 
lia is about 115,000 tons per year. This is produced in 
three Bell Bay (Tasmania) plants operated by Tasmanian 
Electro Metallurgical Co. Proprietary Ltd. An additional 
25,000 tons per year of silicomanganese can be produced 
as a byproduct of the high-carbon process. Estimated ore 
requirements would be about 360,000 to 370,000 tons, or 
about 15 pet of the mine output capacity. 

The largest export markets are Japan and Asia, 
which have in the past consumed about 40 pet of the 
production. The remainder is shipped to Europe and the 
United States. 

There are no known plans for increasing smelting 
capacity in Australia. Smelting capacity required to 



utilize all the Groote Eylandt output would be approx- 
imately 1 million tons per year. 

BRAZIL 

The principal manganese resources of Brazil occur in 
the Serra do Navio Mine of Amapa, the Urucum and 
Santa Mines of Bahia, and the Azul, Buriturama, and 
Sereno Deposits in the Carajas Mineral Province of Para. 
Numerous other manganese deposits occur in the States of 
Minas Gerais, Bahia, Goias, and Espirito Santos, but 
because of their small size, they were not included in this 
study. 

Data on production from separate areas are apparent- 
ly not reported on a common base and thus are difficult to 
interpret. In 1979, total ore production was reported as 
approximately 2,260,000 tons, from which about 
1,700,000 tons of concentrates and pellets was shipped. Of 
this quantity, 1,189,800 tons was shipped from the Serra 
do Navio Mine. The remaining production was from 
numerous mines in the States of Minas Gerais (about 
400,000 tons), Bahia, Mato Grosso, Goias, and Espirito 
Santo. 

Serra Do Navio Mine 

The Serra do Navio Mine is located in the Amapa 
Territory and is the largest producer of manganese 
concentrates in Brazil. The mine is owned and operated by 
Industria Comercio e Minerios S.A. (ICOMI), which is a 
joint venture between Cia. Auxiliar de Empresas Miner- 
acao (Caemi), a Brazilian company, and Bethlehem Steel. 
Initial development began in 1952 and production in 1957. 
A pellet plant for upgrading previously discarded fines to 
about 54 pet manganese was put on stream in 1973. 

The deposit is part of the Precambrian Guyana 
Shield, consisting of a metasedimentary sequence of 
gneisses, amphibolites, schists, and quartzites. These 
sedimentary units alternate in a relatively cyclic pattern 
and are subdivided into three distinct facies: quartzose, 
biotitic, and graphitic. The major ore minerals are 
cryptomelane and pyrolusite. Minor manganiferous 
minerals include hausmannite, lithiophorite, and manga- 
nite. These deposits are classified as residual lateritic 
concentrations. 

The mining area contains about 20 ore bodies 
distributed along a belt about 12 km long up to 70 m wide. 
Typically the ore bodies are fairly dense and compact but 
show stages of variations from dense to porous friable 
material. 

Mining operations are rotated to some extent on a 
seasonal basis. During the rainy season (January through 
June), activities are concentrated on mining; stripping 
receives major emphasis during the dry season. The ore is 
concentrated at the mine by crushing, screening, and 
washing. The minus 1.2-mm material is stockpiled for use 
in pelletizing feed, and the plus 1.2- to minus 8-mm 
material is either shipped as sinter feed or used as pellet 
plant feed as conditions warrant. 

The pellet plant is located at the port of Santana, 
about 200 km from the mine. Here the processes include 
cyclones, screens, heavy media, and spirals, followed by 
reduction roasting, magnetic separation, and pelletizing. 
The pellets contain about 54 pet manganese. 

The remaining in situ demonstrated resources are 



estimated at approximately 23 million tons including 
stockpiled fines (7, p. 11), which would last about 8 to 10 
years at a 2.5-million-ton-per-year mine capacity. 
Another 6 to 7 years of pellet production is possible from 
the fines stockpile at a product capacity of 200,000 tons 
per year. All the concentrates are shipped by rail to 
Santana, where they are loaded on ships for export. 

The approximate 1.2 million tons of concentrates 
available annually in the Serra do Navio Mine should be 
more economically shipped to the United States than to 
other areas. In recent years, though, only about 10 pet has 
been shipped to the United States. The majority is shipped 
to Europe. In 1980, about 64 pet was shipped to Europe, 11 
pet to Japan, 6 pet to the United States, 17 pet to Brazilian 
ports, and the remainder to other South American ports. 
In 1981, the export destinations were Europe — 70 pet, 
Japan — 15 pet, United States — 13 pet, and 2 pet to other 
South American countries, with none shipped to Brazilian 
ports. 

Azul, Buriturama, and Sereno Deposits 
(Carajar Mineral Province) 

The Azul Deposits in the Carajas area of Para State 
lie between the north and south limbs of a synclinorium 
composed of Precambrian sediments, iron formations, and 
volcanic rocks. The manganese deposits lie above 
manganiferous pelitic shales that uncomformably overlie 
the Precambrian sediments. The in situ ore was derived 
from weathering of two shale protore beds with grades 
ranging from 14 to 36 pet manganese and an intervening 
layer grading about 2 to 4 pet manganese. 

The Buriturama deposits, consisting of nine separate 
ore bodies, appear to be the product of weathering and are 
an enrichment of a manganese carbonate-silicate protore. 

The Sereno Deposits are genetically similar to the 
Buriturama deposits, but are much smaller and more 
scattered. Resources for the separate areas follow (7): 



Deposits 

Azul 

Buriturama . . 
Sereno 



Quantity, 
million tons 

65 
11 

2.8 



Grade, 
pet Mn 

42 
39 
30 



Exploitation of these deposits is not expected until a 
900-km railroad from the coastal city of Sao Luis to the 
Carajas Iron District is completed. This railroad is 
presently under construction and is projected to initiate 
the development of some 18 billion tons of iron ore in the 
area (14, pp. 16-18). It is estimated that to develop the 
manganese in this area world require an investment of 
about $40 million, including the construction of a 30-km 
railroad and other infrastructure. Mining capacity is 
assumed at about 1 million tons per year. 

For this study, only the Azul Deposit containing 65 
million tons was used. It was assumed that mining would 
be by open pit methods, that milling would consist of 
crushing and screening, and that 50 pet of the concen- 
trates would be consumed in Brazil; the remaining 50 pet 
would be shipped to Europe and the United States. 

Santana Mine 

The Santana Mine is located in a remote area of Mato 
Grosso near the Bolivian border and is owned by Cia. 



10 



Paulista de Ferro-Ligas, which also owns the smelters 
through which the material is processed. 

The manganese bed at the Santana Mine, probably 
the lower bed of the Morro do Urucum Formation, can be 
traced over a distance of 650 m along an outcrop. The 
manganese bed dips 15° to the east and ranges in 
thickness from 2.5 to 4.0 m, with most of the manganese 
oxides concentrated in the lower part of the bed. The major 
ore mineral, cryptomelane, occurs as thin irregular layers 
and roughly stratified layers of nodules in a matrix of 
coarse sand and clay derived from weathered arkose. 

The Santana Mine has produced both hematite float 
and manganese ore for several years. The ore is mined by 
underground room-and-pillar methods from adits, and 
current capacity is 120,000 tons per year. Output from the 
Santana Mine is converted to ferromanganese in two 
company-owned electric smelting plants in the Corumba 
area and in smelters in other locations. 

Demonstrated resources of the Santana Mine are 
estimated at 5 million tons. Nearby properties have 
reported a total of about 30 million tons of resources, 
which reportedly could be increased by some 30 + million 
tons by more detailed exploration (7, p. 16). At this time, 
there are too few data available to adequately delineate 
these other deposits for inclusion at the demonstrated 
level for this study. 

Urucum Mine 

The Urucum Mine is located in Mato Grosso in the 
same area as the Santana Mine. The manganese occurs in 
a mesalike mountain of sedimentary rock series. The 
deposit was first mined in 1912 and had intermittent 
periods of production through 1972. In 1976, mining was 
restarted by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD). 

Three manganese beds with thickness ranging up to 6 
m occur in this area. The manganese oxide beds are 
almost all intercalated between clastic beds in an iron 
formation. Average analysis of the manganese oxide 
lenses in the Urucum area is about 46 pet manganese. The 
principal mineral is cryptomelane. 

The ore is mined by room-and-pillar methods. The 
mine is developed and mined through parallel adits driven 
along the strike. The ore is broken and removed prior to 
breaking and removal of the waste to prevent dilution. 
Rooms are turned off from the adits at right angles every 
15 m. Stope pillars are 4 by 4 by 4 m wide, and the rooms 
are 60 m long. With the present equipment and mine 
development, the mine has a maximum annual capacity of 
260,000 tons and contains an estimated resource of 72 
million tons (7, p. 14). The ore is beneficiated by simple 
crushing and screening. 

The ore from this mine can be shipped either 1,500 to 
1,700 km by rail to Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo for 
domestic use, or 2,700 km by barge (seasonal) to Nueva 
Palmira, Uruguay, for export. The ore contains 3 to 4 pet 
alkalies that must be diluted by blending. 

For the economic evaluation in this study it is 
assumed that 50 pet is transported by barge through 
Paraguay for export. The remainder is transported by rail 
for domestic use. 

Other Mines 

Aside from the more important manganese deposits 
discussed above, Brazil has numerous smaller mines 



which supply domestic requirements. These small de- 
posits are scattered through the States of Minas Gerais, 
Bahia, Goias, and others. The estimated resources from 
individual States follow (7, p. 29): 

Quantity, Grade, 

Area million tons pet Mn 

Minas Gerais 5.5 31 

6 35 

5 30 

Bahia 15 38 

Goias 10 33 

With the development of the Urucum and Azul areas, 
Brazil could maintain current production levels after the 
depletion of the Serra do Navio resources, although at 
higher costs mainly because of the longer transportation 
distances. 

Brazil's current annual smelting capacity is 140,000 
tons of ferromanganese and 180,000 tons of silicoman- 
ganese, which requires a feed of about 560,000 tons of ore 
and concentrates at full capacity. Part of this is supplied 
by a number of small mines that have relatively 
insignificant resources. The remainder is supplied by the 
mines in the Urucum area. 

Brazil has projected a progressive increase in its 
manganese ore, ferromanganese, and steel production. 
Because of vast iron ore resources, the near-future 
expansion of the steel industry is more probable than the 
expansion of the manganese industry. Future develop- 
ments in the manganese industry will probably depend on 
the domestic iron industry, such as development of the 
Carajas iron ore area. Increases in mine production will be 
restricted by high transportation costs, since the major 
resources are located in remote areas. 



GABON 

The Moanda Mine in Gabon is owned and operated by 
Comilog, a company jointly owned by U.S. Steel, Bureau 
de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), Imetal 
S.A., other French interests, and the Gabon Government. 

The manganese occurs in five deposits within the 
Francevillian Series, and the principal ore minerals are 
pyrolusite, manganite, and cryptomelane. 

The ore is mined at the Bangombe Deposit by open pit 
methods and is excavated in a series of rectangular 
trenches running from 610 to 915 m in a north-south 
direction. Each trench measures 20 m wide and is worked 
from east to west by walking draglines. Ore from the mine 
is trucked to the crusher station, where it is reduced to 6 
mm size. The crushed material is then fed to cleaning 
drums, where water is introduced countercurrently. The 
washed material is then classified through vibrating 
screens to different product sizes with fines upgraded in a 
heavy-media separation circuit. The minus 6-mm mate- 
rial is currently being stockpiled as waste; about 10 
million tons had been stockpiled as of 1979 {15, p. 177). 

With current annual mine production capacity of 4 
million tons (about 2.3 million tons of product) and a 
demonstrated resource of 400 million tons (6, p. 40; 15, p. 
178), the deposit will sustain a mine life of at least 100 
years. Annual mine production rate in 1982 was about 3.5 
million tons of ore. 

The mine product is transported 78 km by aerial 
ropeway and 485 km by rail to Pointe Noire in The 
Republic of Congo for export. 



11 



In addition to the ore treatment plant, a concentra- 
tion plant was installed to treat about 100,000 tons per 
year of washed ore sized to plus 6 mm minus 20 mm for 
use in dry cell batteries. 

The advantages of this mine are the high degree of 
mechanization and the abundant reserves of high-grade 
ore. along with significant quantities of battery-grade ore. 
One limiting factor is the relatively long distance to 
transport the concentrates to smelter installations. Gabon 
has no smelting facilities. The Trans-Gabon railway (560 
km>. which would serve the Moanda area, is scheduled for 
completion in 1987. With this railroad the mine capacity 
could be increased to at least 4 million tons per year of 
product. 



GHANA 

The manganese ore deposits of the Nsuta Mine are 
located about 62 km from the port of Takoradi and are 
owned by Ghana National Manganese Corp. The deposits 
occur on five hills and can be traced almost continuously 
for about 4 km. The hills are elevated 60 to 90 m above the 
surrounding area and are interconnected by saddles. 

The principal ore bodies that have been mined in the 
past are sedimentary lenses rich in battery-grade man- 
ganese oxides from Recent or Tertiary laterizations and 
oxide enrichment of gondites. The major manganese 
mineral in the remaining resources is rhodochrosite. 

The mine has operated for over 60 years and has been 
one of the major suppliers of battery-grade oxide ore, but 
the reserves of this type of ore are nearly mined out. The 
evaluation in this study was based on approximately 30 
million tons of carbonate ore underlying the oxides (6, p. 
76 

In recent years, the carbonate ore has been mined and 
processed for the manufacture of electrolytic manganese 
dioxide in plants in Japan and Ireland. Production in 1982 
was about 22,000 tons of oxide ore and 138,000 tons of 
carbonate ore. The carbonate ore is processed by crushing, 
washing, screening, and hand sorting. 

At the Nsuta Mine, the Ghana National Manganese 
Corp. has completed a nodulizing plant which will convert 
the carbonate ore to oxide by roasting. The plant was 
completed in 1982 but has not been commissioned because 
of the lack of electric power. As of 1982, a 2-year plant feed 
supply had been stockpiled, with production anticipated in 
1984. 

From this plant, it is expected that 300,000 tons of 
manganese oxide nodules from 450,000 tons of carbonate 
ore will be produced annually (23). The nodules will be 
transported about 62 km by rail to the port of Takoradi for 
export. This is a relatively short distance; however, the 
railway system experiences frequent breakdowns. 

The beneficiation costs for this resource are relatively 
high in that the ore must be nodulized; however, this 
beneficiation increases the grade from about 31 to about 
44 pet manganese. For this study it it estimated that 
about 80 pet of the concentrates will be destined for 
Europe and the remaining 20 pet will be sent to Japan. 

INDIA 

Manganese ore mining in India is characterized by 
many small mine operators mining and sorting ores by 



hand methods. With over 300 individual mines in various 
stages of selective hand mining, it is difficult if not 
impossible to interpret resource data. In addition, no 
systematic geological mapping or drilling program has 
been done on the majority of the existing deposits. 

In general, resources are outlined in the immediate 
vicinity of the mine areas, based on ore exposures. All 
other data are estimated on the basis of geologic inference. 
As a result, most information indicated a great difference 
(4 to 10 times) between indicated and inferred resources. 
Estimates of inferred resources generally include wide 
areas and are not deposit specific. 

Mining and processing of the manganese ores is 
generally done by hand because labor is cheap and 
production of individual mines is not large enough for the 
use of mechanical methods. 

India has an annual smelting capacity of about 
307,000 tons of high-carbon ferromanganese and about 
43,000 tons of silicomanganese. This includes the 72,000- 
ton-per-year plant under construction at Tumsar. Total 
ore requirements to feed the smelting capacity of India 
would be about 810,000 tons. This is approximately 50 pet 
of the ore production of India, and thus it is assumed that 
about 50 pet of the ores are exported. 

Much of the production of high-grade manganese ore 
in India has been designated for use within the country in 
recent years. The only ore exported is that containing less 
than 46 pet manganese. The future capability of produc- 
tion cannot be predicted with any certainty because of the 
lack of a definitive resource base. Manganese production 
in India has remained relatively constant since the early 
1950's without any significant changes in the known 
reserves. Without systematic exploration or mechanized 
mining methods in the manganese industry, it is unlikely 
that significant increases in production could or will occur. 

Because of extremely labor-intensive mining and 
processing methods, estimated to produce about 0.1 ton 
per worker-shift, the costs associated with these mines are 
much higher than those experienced in the mechanized 
mines in all the other countries studied. 

In view of the vast number of small mining operations 
and limited demonstrated resources in India, it was not 
considered feasible within the scope of this study to 
attempt an evaluation that would include a major number 
of these operations. It is felt that the coverage included 
represents the current mining and processing practices in 
the manganese mining industry of India. This evaluation 
includes mines from three areas, the Maharashtra- 
Madhya Pradesh area of central India (five mines), the 
Keonjhar District in Orissa, and the Bisgod Mine in 
Karnataka.The mines in central India are operated by 
Manganese Ore India, Ltd. Most of the ores are relatively 
high grade and can be blended with lower grade, 
low-phosphorus ores of Orissa. Most of the ore in 
Karnataka is exported because of the high iron content 
and the lack of nearby smelting facilities (22, pp. 32-33). 

Maharashtra-Madhya 
Pradesh Area 

It is reported that this area produces about 75 pet of 
all high-grade ore in India (22, p. 34). Demonstrated 
resources for the area are estimated at 10 million tons. 
Generally, the mines described represent the main 
operation in a particular area. Ore is also supplied by 
numerous individually operated workings. 



12 



It is assumed that about 50 pet of this ore is smelted 
domestically, and the remainder is shipped to the ports of 
Visakhapatnam and Bombay for export to Japan and 
Europe. 

Balaghat Mine 

The Balaghat Mine is mainly an underground 
operation and extends over a strike length of 3.7 km. The 
ore comes from two types of deposits, lode or reef type, and 
detrital or float-type deposits. The ore consists of a 
mixture of several manganese oxides, with braunite being 
the principal mineral. 

The mine operates on six levels, some of which have 
been developed to a strike length of 2.7 km, and produces 
about 114,000 tons annually. The ore is sorted and cleaned 
by hand and separated into different sizes and grades. The 
reject fines and tailings are relatively high grade. It is 
planned to build a beneficiation and an agglomerating 
plant to process this waste material. A ferromanganese 
plant also has been contemplated for the area. 

Kandri Mine 

The Kandri Mine is situated near the village of 
Kandri. The ore body occurs in a horseshoe-shaped 
synclinal exposure and has barren zone between its two 
limbs. 

The ore zone ranges in thickness from 1.5 to 3.9 m 
near the bottom of the syncline. Over the exposed length 
of 230 m of the syncline, the ore-bearing horizon attains a 
maximum thickness of 22.5 m. 

The ore was originally mined by opencast methods. 
Now, all mining operations are underground through an 
inclined ?haft. Overhead, flat back, and cut-and-fill 
stoping methods are used to mine 30,000 tons annually. 
Mining is performed mostly by manual labor, but in 
recent years some mechanization has been introduced. 
Manual sorting and sizing are done at the mine, and the 
product is shipped to the Tumsar, Kahhua, and Kelsar 
ferromanganese plants. 

Mansar Mine 

The Mansar Deposit has an indicated strike length of 
2.8 km. The ore body crops out on the surface as a band 
running almost northwest-southeast in an isoclinically 
folded and plunging formation with very high dips. 

The ore is both hard and soft. The hard ore consists 
mainly of braunite granules cemented by psilomelane. 
Quartz is the main gangue mineral, and the ore contains 
high phosphorus and silica. On the average, the run-of- 
mine, unsorted ore represents 70 pet of the total thickness 
of the ore zone, and the balance is waste consisting of 
manganiferous quartzite. The marketable ore comprises 
roughly 30 pet of the ore body. 

Mining is conducted by open pit and underground 
cut-and-fill methods. The combined annual production is 
45,000 tons. 

Tirodi Mine 

All deposits in the Tirodi area are characterized by 
intensely folded, overturned, isoclinal, and recumbent 
folds. These deposits are exposed continuously over a 
distance of about 10 km. The main potential zone has a 
thickness of 2 to 3 m along a total strike length of 425 m. 
The manganese ore is very hard, compact, fine to coarse 
grained, and usually enclosed in schist. The deposit 
consists of a primary bedded manganese sequence with 



braunite as the principal mineral. The ore is generally 
high in phosphorus (above 0.2 pet), whereas the silica 
content is fairly low. 

The Tirodi Deposit has been mined since 1901 using 
the open pit method. The bulk of the mining extraction is 
carried out manually, and even jackhammers and 
compressed air are rarely used. Underground cut-and-fill 
methods are being adopted in deeper sections of the 
deposit, consisting of levels 2.1 by 2.1 m in size driven 
laterally. The present combined annual production capac- 
ity for the mine area is estimated at about 90,000 tons. 

Ore from the mine is broken by hand into about 10-cm 
lumps and processed by hand sorting. Mechanical 
washing is adopted during the rainly season using 
washing drums. This washing technique upgrades the ore 
by about 3 pet. 

Ukwa Mine 

Mining in the Ukwa area was started in 1906; 
continuous operation probably began in 1938 when a 
29-km ropeway was installed. The Ukwa deposit extends 
over a strike length of about 5.5 km. In general, the 
thickness of the ore bed for the major portion of the strike 
length is 3.0 to 3.5 m. The greater part of the ore is in the 
form of psilomelane and braunite. The ore is fairly high in 
manganese, with phosphorus content varying from 0.07 to 
0.1 pet. Annual ore production is about 39,000 tons. All 
mining is done by" manual labor, including hauling. 
Upgrading is accomplished by hard sorting and jigging of 
the ore on the mine floor. The concentrate is transported 
by aerial tramway 29 km to the railhead at Balaghat and 
is shipped to Tumsar or Komptee for smelting or to 
Bombay for export. 

Keonjhar District 

The Keonjhar District in Orissa State contains about 
200 open pit operations that are mined by a few major 
operators and a large number of individual miners. 

The principal rock types in the Keonjhar District 
include quartzites, banded hematite, metavolcanics, high- 
ly folded shales of an iron ore series, and gently folded 
sandstone, phyllites, and shales. The manganese ore, 
together with associated iron ore, occurs as lenses, 
pockets, reefs, and veins in the shale, jasper, and quartzite 
formations. The most abundant mineral is psilomelane 
with some manganite. 

The Keonjhar ores are characterized by low phosphor- 
us and high iron content. The grade varies from deposit 
to deposit, but most of the ores are in the lower grade 
ranges. Only about 10 to 15 pet of the ores are suitable 
for ferromanganese production without blending {22, p. 
32). 

All mining operations are by open pit methods using 
manual labor. Current ore production from four major 
stratigraphic zones with the district is estimated at 
about 300,000 tons per year. The practice of removing the 
high-grade ore results in the loss of large tonnages of low- 
and medium-grade ores, which often become contamin- 
ated with waste materials. For this study, the resources of 
the Keonjhar District were estimated at 12 million tons. 

It is assumed that 50 pet of the concentrates are 
exported through Visakhapatnam to Japan and Europe. 
Rail shipping distances are nearly the same for both 
export and domestic use. 



13 



Karnataka (Mysore) Area 

The manganese deposits at the Bisgod Mine in 
Karnataka. owned by Mysore Minerals Ltd., are strati- 
form in nature and enclosed in laterite. The major mineral 
is psilomelane. with pyrolusite occurring in lesser 
amounts. The current mining method is opencast, and a 
large segment of the work is done by manual labor. 
Current production is estimated at 142 to 180 tons per 
day. as in other parts of India, part of the production is 
supplied from individual workings in the mine area. Most 
of the ore is high in iron and low in manganese, and about 
75 pet of the product is exported. The exported concen- 
trates are transported 140 km by small trucks to 
Beligondi, where they are loaded onto barges and then 
transloaded to ships. The remainder is shipped by rail to 
domestic plants in the area. 

Other Mines 

It is estimated that over 300 separate mines are being 
worked, of which about 290 are privately owned. Because 
of their small size, most of these mines were not included 
in this study. Total reserves for the larger of the mines not 
included have been reported as approximately 13 million 
tons, measured plus indicated, and approximately 52 
million tons inferred {14). 

MEXICO 

Nearly all of Mexico's total output of manganese ore 
comes from the Tetzintla Mine located in the Molango 
district of the State of Hidalgo about 140 km southwest of 
Tampico and owned by Compania Minera Autlan, S.A. de 
C.V. Mineralization occurs over an area measuring 50 by 
20 km at the base of the Chipoco Formation, although the 
manganese-bearing horizon may not occur throughout the 
entire area. At the Tetzintla Mine, the manganese- 
bearing section is about 7 m thick and averages about 28 
pet manganese. 

The ores are hard, compact, finely stratified man- 
ganiferous limestone. There are two types of manganese 
deposits in the Molango district. The most important is 
the fine-grained carbonate ore that is composed mainly of 
rhodochrosite. kutnahorite, and manganocalcite. The 
second type is rich oxide ore derived from the carbonate 
ores by oxidation and supergene enrichment. The oxide 
product from the Nonoalco Mine in the district is a source 
of manganese dioxide used for the production of dry cell 
batteries. About 40,000 tons per year of battery-grade ore 
are produced. 

The Tetzintla Mine started production as an open pit 
mine in 1969. and in 1978 an underground room-and- 
pillar operation was developed in the Tetzintla ore body. 
The open pit mine has a capacity of 1,500 tons per day, 
while the underground operation has a capacity of 1,900 
tons per day Demonstrated resources of the district are 
estimated at 30 million tons 15. p. 93). This includes 15 
million tons proven at the Tetzintla Mine. The concession 
area contains an additional estimated 200 million tons of 
similar material, which for this study is considered to be 
inferred. The concession area includes the Tetzintla Mine 
and the Naopa. Acoxcatlan. and Comextetzintla Deposits 
The Naopa Deposit is in the planning stages for an open 
pit mine. 

Normally the ore is crushed in three stages to minus 



1.25 cm and fed into a rotary kiln at Otongo, where the 
carbonates are converted to oxides and nodules are 
formed. When excessive silica and alumina dilution is 
present, the ore is first upgraded to 27.5 pet manganese by 
heavy-media separation. The nodules contain 39 to 40 pet 
manganese (I). 

Mexico has a smelting capacity of about 150,000 tons 
of ferromanganese and 50,000 tons of silicomanganese. 
The mine has a capacity to produce about 550,000 tons of 
nodules. Because of the low grade of the nodules, they 
must be blended with high-grade imported ore. It is 
estimated that about 75 pet of the output is exported. 
Marketing involves transporting the nodules about 230 
km by truck to Tampico, from where they are shipped to 
domestic ferromanganese plants at Vera Cruz and 
exported to Japan, France, and the United States. 

Within Hidalgo State, small amounts of manganese 
ore are mined at Pachuca. Minor amounts are also mined 
in the States of San Luis Potosi (Charcas), Chihuahua 
(San Buenaventura), and Zacatecas (Villa de Cos). 



SOUTH AFRICA 
Resources 

The manganese resources of South Africa are consi- 
dered vast, although there are differences in the resource 
interpretations of the available data. The resources occur 
mainly in two separate fields, the Kalahari and Postmas- 
burg. Nearly all the resources are in the Kalahari Field. 
Probably the most complete assessment of the resources 
was estimated by Taljaardt (16) at over 13.6 billion tons of 
material through the inferred category, grading from 20 
to over 44 pet manganese aggregated by company 
ownership and different grade range categories. Only 
deposits near the existing mines are fairly well investi- 
gated by exploration drilling. Further exploration will 
undoubtedly reclassify some of the material from inferred 
to demonstrated resources. In this study, these resources 
are allocated to the operating mines as shown in table 5. 

The majority of the resources in South Africa are in 
grade categories lower than most of those currently being 
mined through the market economy countries. According 
to the data shown in table 5, the current mining grades 
(plus 38 pet Mn) account for 1,396 million tons, or about 10 
pet of the total resource shown in the table. Of this total, 
818 million tons is considered in this study. Based on 
current capacities (table 4), it will probably be 70 to 80 
years before any development is needed on the lower 
grade type of ore. The relationship of the ores by grade is 
shown in figure 5. 

Of the total resource of 13,628 million tons, 409 
million tons (about 3 pet) is of the high-grade, high-iron 
Wessels type, and nearly all the remainder is low-grade, 
low-iron Mamatwan type. Resources in the Postmasburg 
Field account for less than 1 pet of the total. Of the current 
total production capacity, Wessels type accounts for 47 
pet, Mamatwan type accounts for 45 pet, and the 
remaining 8 pet is from the Postmasburg Field. 

The criterion used in the allocation of resources in 
South Africa for this study was the limitation of grades to 
those currently being mined. This limits the Wessels 
grades to plus 44 pet and 40 to 44 pet manganese, and the 
Mamatwan grades to 38 to 40 pet manganese. Lower 
grade ores are apparently produced by all operations, but 



14 



Table 5. — Estimated South African manganese resources, 
total and used in this study 

(Million tons) 



KEY 

Resources used 
in this study 









Resources 




Type and grade, 
pet Mn 


Company 


Total 


Jsed in this 






quantity 1 


study 


Mine 


KALAHARI FIELD 


Wessels: 










Plus 44 


SAMANCOR. 


184 P 


184 


Wessels 




. . do 


6 I 


6 


Wessels 




AMMOSAL . . 


120 E 


120 


Black 
Rock 2 . 




Minerts 


20 E 


( 3 ) 


NAp. 


40 to 44 


SAMANCOR. 


18 P 


18 


Wessels 




AMMOSAL . . 


12E 


12 


Black 
Rock 2 . 


36 to 40" 


SAMANCOR. 


11 P 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




AMMOSAL . . 


7 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 


30 to 40" 


SAMANCOR. 


19 P 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




AMMOSAL . . 


12 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 


Total 


NAp 


409 


340 


NAp. 


Mamatwan: 








38 to 40 


SAMANCOR. 


348 P 


348 


( 6 ). 




. . do 


125 I 


125 


( 6 ). 




AMMOSAL . . 


509 E 


( 3 ) 


NAp. 


30 to 38 


SAMANCOR. 


614 P 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




. . do 


. 2,378 I 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




AMMOSAL . . 


. 1,913 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




ISCOR 


852 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Minerts 


244 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Armco Bronne 


241 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Texas Gulf . . 


42 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 


20 to 30 


SAMANCOR. 


200 P 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




. . do 


. 1,963 1 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




AMMOSAL . . 


. 1 ,400 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




ISCOR 


. 1,159 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Minerts 


693 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Armco Bronne 


446 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 




Texas Gulf . . 


77 E 


( 5 ) 


NAp. 


Total 


NAp 

NAp 


. 13,204 


473 


NAp. 


Total Kalahari 


. 13,613 


813 


NAp 


Field 










POSTMASBURG FIELD 


Postmasburg 


SAMANCOR. 


5 


5 


Lohatla. 




AMMOSAL . . 


10 


( 7 ) 


Southern 




NAp 






Farms. 


Total Postmasburg 


15 


5 


NAp. 


Field 


NAp 








Grand total 


. 13,628 


818 


NAp. 



NAp Not applicable. 

1 E = estimated; I = inferred; P = proven. 

2 Gloria, Nchwaning, Nchwaning West Mines. 

3 Not delineated as to location, depth of ore, dimensions, etc. 

4 Grades of 36 to 44 pet manganese contain 60 pet manganese plus iron. 
Grades of 30 to 40 pet manganese contain 5 to 10 pet iron. 

5 Below current mining grades. 

6 Total 473 million tons; allocated to the Mamatwan Mine (433 million 
tons) and the Middleplaats Mine (40 million tons). 

7 Bishop, Gloucester, Paling Mines, shut down. 
Source: Adapted from reference 16. 



this is considered a result of grade fluctuation within the 
ore body and is not part of a lower grade resource category. 
Additionally, the grade ranges below those used in this 
study (30 to 38 pet and 20 to 30 pet manganese) are too 
broad to attempt economic analysis on specific grades. 

In addition to these Northern Cape deposits, a 
relatively small tonnage occurs in a number of small 
deposits in the Gopane area (Transvaal), which is mined 
for the chemical-grade ore for use in uranium purifica- 
tion (3). Because of its small size and the nonmetallurgical 
use of the ore, this area was not included in the study. 

Undoubtedly, South Africa will be a major supplier of 
manganese for many years. Because of the lateral 
continuity of the ore beds in and around the major mines, 
a high degree of mechanization is possible. 




Totol Mamatwan type 

38-40 pet Mn -982 million tons — 

Used in this study- 473 million tons 

Total Wessels type - 409 million tons 
Used in this study- 340 million tons 



Postmasburg Field -15 million tons 
Used in this study- 5 million tons 



Figure 5. — Manganese ore resources of South Africa by 
grade. 



The potential for increasing production in South 
Africa is favorable. In the major mines, significant 
increases could apparently be accomplished in a short 
time by adding more production shifts (6, p. 113). 

For this study, it is assumed that 65 pet of the ores 
and concentrates produced in South Africa are exported 
through Port Elizabeth (an average rail distance of about 
1,250 km), and the remaining 35 pet is used in the 
ferromanganese smelters in Transvaal (an average rail 
distance of about 900 km). 

Operations 

All operations in the Kalahari and Postmasburg 
Fields are controlled by two companies, The Associated 
Manganese Mines of South Africa Ltd. (AMMOSAL), 
which operates the Black Rock area mines, and South 
African Manganese Amcor, Ltd. (SAMANCOR), which 
operates the Mamatwan, Middleplaats, Wessels, and 
Lohathla Mines. 

Kalahari Field 

The Kalahari Field contains a relatively continuous 
belt of manganese ore that extends about 40 km in a 
north-south direction. This field contains nearly all the 
significant manganese ore resources of South Africa. The 
ore in this field is laterally consistent and can be mined by 
mechanized methods. 

There are two separate grade classifications within 
the Kalahari Field — the higher grade, high-iron Wessels 
type in the northern part of the field and the lower grade, 



15 



low-iron Mamatwan type in the southern part of the field. 
The largest resources are of the Mamatwan type. 
Mamatwan-type ore contains calcareous impurities which 
somewhat restrict its use in electric furnace manganese 
ferroalloy production and is generally blended with 
high-grade ores such as the Wessels type. 

Black Rock Area 

The Black Rock area is in the northern part of the 
Kalahari Field and currently includes three mines owned 
and operated as a unit by AMMOSAL, the Gloria, 
Nchwaning. and Nchwaning West. Total annual output 
from the three mines is about 2 million tons. Resources 
are estimated at 132 million tons in the plus 44 and 40 to 
44 pet Wessels-type ore. 

These mines are located on adjacent farms and are 
operated at varying rates depending on ore contract 
specifications. Grades vary between the mines, and 
certain sections are mined as the need arises to maintain 
an overall consistent grade product. 

The broad structure of the ore-bearing banded iron 
formation in this area is a north-trending asymmetrical 
anticline planed off by faulting. The strike length of the 
ore body is about 10 km. Two persistent ore bodies are 
developed, each of which is approximately 6 m thick with 
consistent thickness and grade down dip. The area being 
mined at Nchwaning is the bottom ore body of the eastern 
limb of the anticline. The depth of the cover ranges from 
150 to 900 m. The major ore minerals are braunite, 
bixbyite. and cryptomelane, with calcium and magnesium 
carbonates. 

The main ore bodies at the Gloria and Nchwaning 
West are also on the eastern limb of the anticline. The ore 
horizons here range in thickness from 5 to 40 m and dip 
from 0° to 30°. 

Mining in the Black Rock area is underground, using 
basically a room-and-pillar method; selective mining is 
used in some areas of the mine to produce higher grades. 
The ore body is accessed by one vertical and one inclined 
shaft to a depth of 400 m. 

The waste is sorted from the ore manually before it is 
crushed, screened, and washed. Some final sorting to 
various grades and specifications is done by visual 
identification. Four different grades of manganese concen- 
trates are produced. 

Mamatvcan Mine 

The Mamatwan Mine is located at the "outhern limit 
of the Kalahari Manganese Field and is owned and 
operated by SAMANCOR. The manganese deposit varies 
in thickness from the suboutcropping to an average of 45 
m. At the base, the ore is siliceous and ferruginized with a 
banded appearance. The manganese ore is normally 
overlain by banded ironstone, which thickens to 15 m 
within the lease area. Except for occasional fissures, the 
manganese ore body is not affected by faulting and 
folding. 

The ore body consists of approximately 48 pet 
braunite, 14 pet manganite, 22 pet calcite, 5 pet 
magnesite, 6 pet hematite, and other minor minerals. The 
resources used for the study are estimated at 433 million 
tons. This includes only the grades of 38 to 40 pet 
manganese, and roughly coincides with the strike length 
of 4 km explored by 300 drill holes on the Mamatwan and 
Goold properties (16, p. 8); one stated reserve is over 200 
years' production <15, p. 193). 



Mining is proceeding to the north along the strike of 
the ore zone and is performed by conventional open pit 
mining methods utilizing drilling machines, large power 
shovels, front-end loaders, and dump trucks. Current 
annual capacity is about 2.2 million tons. Currently, the 
manganese ore being mined is about 40 m thick and is 
covered by about 50 m of overburden, including about 7 m 
of sand. The sand is removed by a bucket- wheel excavator, 
and the hard rock overburden (limestone and banded 
ironstone) is blasted and removed in three benches. The 
ore is also excavated in a series of three benches. 

In 1981, an in-pit crusher and conveyor system were 
installed so that the crushed ore can now be transported 
about 2.2 km to the secondary crushers and wet-screening 
plant by conveyor. The conveyor system was designed for 
twice the capacity of the in-pit crusher for the possibility 
of increasing capacity by adding another crusher. 

At the secondary crusher and screening plant, the ore 
is crushed to minus 75 mm and wet-screened into plus 
25-mm, minus 25- plus 6-mm, and minus 6-mm sizes. The 
minus 6-mm fines must be sintered before being used as 
ferromanganese smelter feed. 

Middleplaats Mine 

The Middleplaats Mine was ( purchased from the 
Anglo American Corp, by SAMANCOR in March 1982. At 
the Middleplaats, the ore horizon lies at a vertical depth of 
300 to 500 m below the surface. The deposit is stratabound 
and dips 10° to the northwest. The ore is generally hard 
and competent and normally occurs as a mixture of 
manganese silicates and oxides. The thickness ranges 
from 8 to 14 m. The principal gangue minerals are calcium 
and magnesium carbonates. 

Demonstrated resources for this mine are estimated 
at 40 million tons in the Mamatwan-grade category of 38 
to 40 pet manganese. The mine has a capacity of about 1.2 
million tons per year. 

The mine is developed by shaft and service ramp. The 
shaft is 489 m deep, and the ramp is 2,500 m long with a 
slope of 10° to 12°. The main level is on the footwall at a 
depth of 400 m. The shaft is equipped with a Koepe hoist 
and is used for ore production and downcast ventilation, 
whereas the ramp is used for the transport of personnel 
and equipment. 

Mining is by room-and-pillar, where an initial 4-m 
cut is made on the hanging wall, followed by benching of 
the lower section. The ore is crushed to minus 150 mm 
underground before hoisting. 

The concentrator consists of secondary crushing, wet 
screening, and cycloning. The ore is crushed to minus 75 
mm and screened into products of minus 75 plus 6 mm and 
minus 6 plus 2 mm. The minus 2-mm fraction is further 
processed by cyclones into plus and minus 150-nm 
fractions. The plus 150-u.m product is stockpiled as a 
potential product, and the minus 150-jim size is consi- 
dered waste. 

Wessels Mine 

Wessels ore occurs at a depth of about 300 m in the 
northern part of the Kalahari Field. On the average, the 
material contains 44 pet manganese, with braunite, 
bixbyite, and cryptomelane as the major minerals. 
Demonstrated resources are estimated at 208 million tons. 

The mine began production in 1973 and was designed 
to replace the production of Wessels-type ore from the 
Hotazel Mine, which was nearing depletion. Access 



16 



initially was by a vertical shaft to a depth of 395 m and an 
incline of about 1,200 m. A second incline was driven in 
1980 and is currently being used for ore haulage to the 
surface through a cable conveyor belt system. Current 
mine capacity is about 1.5 million tons per year. 

Mining is by conventional room-and-pillar methods, 
although limited selective mining is done for grade 
control. This is because of a vertical gradient in the 
manganese content with the upper approximate 0.6 m of 
ore being of lower grade. Here the upper section is 
excavated first and stockpiled separately, and then the 
lower approximate 4.5-m section is mined. The mine is not 
adaptable to such large-scale equipment as the Middle- 
plaats Mine, since the ore horizon is thinner (about 5 m) 
and there are a number of small-scale faults and changes 
in dip. 

Crushing is done underground with satellite primary 
crushers located at the main haulageway intersections 
and a secondary crusher located at the belt loading 
station. The satellite crushers reduce the ore to minus 125 
mm; this product is further reduced to minus 63 mm for 
transport to the surface. 

The surface plant is a secondary crushing and 
wet-screening plant that produces product sizes of plus 32, 
minus 32 plus 6, and minus 6 plus 1 mm. The rock smelted 
in South Africa is blended with Mamatwan-type ore for 
use in company ferromanganese plants. 

Postmasburg Field 

The ore in the Postmasburg Field occurs as a broken 
series of remnants lying about 1,800 m stratigraphically 
below the Kalahari Field and is divided into eastern and 
western belts. The eastern belt contains higher grade 
siliceous ores occurring in tectonic siliceous breccias along 
or close to their contact with a dolomite. The western belt 
contains lower grade ferruginous ores. These manganese 
deposits are marked by intricate shapes and inconsistent 
sizes. 

The only mine operating in the Postmasburg Field is 
the Lohathla Mine owned by SAMANCOR. Until recent- 
ly, three other mines, Bishop, Gloucester, and Paling, 
owned by AMMOSAL, were producing a total of about 
300,000 tons per year. These mines are now shut down, 
and there is little likelihood they will reopen because of 
the high cost of mining (labor intensive), low reserves 
(about 10 million tons), and low-grade product (28 to 33 
pet manganese). 

At the Lohathla Mine, one of the main resources of 
manganese is siliceous detrital ore. The detrital ore has 
been formed at the foot of the elevated ground owing to 
erosion. Resources are estimated at 5 million tons; 
however, the manganese ore bodies are so irregularly 
shaped that resource estimations are very difficult. 

Run-of-mine ore is transported by 17-ton trucks to the 
processing plant located adjacent to the mine. Waste 
materials in the run-of-mine ores are hand sorted on 
sorting belts before the ore is crushed, washed, and 
screened. The processing plant produces up to six different 
grades of contained manganese in concentrates. 

Ferroalloy Smelters 

South Africa has four ferromanganese smelting 
plants with an annual ferromanganese capacity of 
563,000 tons and a silicomanganese capacity of 122,000 
tons. These plants are shown below (6, p. 117; 11, p. 157): 



Smelter 


Annual capacity, 
thousand tons 


Location 




FeMn 


SiMn 




Witbank 

Cato Ridge 


393 

10 

100 
60 

563 


52 

70 

NAp 
NAp 

122 


50 km south of 
Johannesburg. 

100 km northeast of 
Johannesburg. 


New Castle 


About midway between 
Johannesburg and 
Durban. 


Total 


NA — Not applicable. 









Each of these smelters is located a considerable 
distance from the manganese mines (Meyerton — 750 km, 
Witbank— 900 km, Cato Ridge— 1,450 km, and New 
Castle — 1,000 km). The average distance from the mines 
to the various smelters is estimated to be 800 to 900 km. 
The average rail distance for exporting the ferroman- 
ganese is 1,450 km, while the rail distance for transport- 
ing the concentrates to Port Elizabeth for export is about 
1,250 km. 



UNITED STATES 

Certain manganese resources of the United States 
were evaluated in a previous study (10). Eight deposits 
were evaluated and estimated to contain nearly 422 
million tons of material containing an average of about 10 
pet manganese. As shown in table 4, these deposits 
contain very low grades not approaching the grades of 
manganese ore in the 23 foreign mines and deposits 
evaluated for this study. 

Recent significant factors in the U.S. manganese 
industry are a decrease in production of ferromanganese 
and a corresponding increase in imports. In addition, 
nearly all U.S. manganese ferroalloy plants have been 
acquired by foreign companies, some of which are current 
ore producers. Trends in U.S. imports of manganese ore 
and ferromanganese production for 1970 to 1981 are 
shown in figure 6. As indicated in figure 6, there has been 
a marked decrease in ore imports and ferromanganese 
production in these years and an increase in ferroman- 



./ 



A 

\ / \ y'Q-e imports 

V \ 

V 

FeMmmpofts-toTol 



FeMn production 




1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 

Figure 6. — U.S. ferromanganese production and imports ana 
mangenese ore imports, 1970 to 1981. 



17 



ganese imports. Of significance also is the increase in 
ferromanganese imports from non-ore-producing coun- 
tries. On the other hand, in 1973—78, when comparative 
data are available, ferromanganese imports of non-ore- 
producing countries other than the United States re- 
mained relatively stable (9. p. 491. Apparently the United 
States has absorbed much of the new ferromanganese 
production from the ore-producing countries. 

Although nearly all ferromanganese smelters are 
shut down, the U.S. annual smelting capacity (either 
producing or shut down on a care and maintenance basis) 
is estimated to range between 250.000 and 350,000 tons 
for high-carbon ferromanganese and was estimated at 
approximately 250,000 tons for silicomanganese as of 
January 1983. The range of the high-carbon capacity is 
because of the uncertainty as to whether or not the plants 
shut down on care and maintenance would reopen with 
improvement of market conditions. 

UPPER VOLTA 

The Tambo manganese deposit is located in a 
relatively remote region of Upper Volta. It occurs in two 



adjacent hills about 150 m apart and lies about 100 m 
above the general level of the surrounding terrain. The 
manganese occurs in three separate structures which are 
of a slightly different average manganese content, 
classified as first, second, and main manganese oxide 
zones. The main oxide zone is the highest grade material 
and contains material of up to 55 pet manganese (13). 

The Tambao oxides are variable in character. They 
can be layered or bedded, solid or massive, concretionary 
or cavernous, rubbly or friable. Generally, the central 
parts of the ore bodies are of the massive, black-grade 
oxide type, but towards the margins of the ore zones these 
pass into a slabby softer ore containing thin beds of 
argillaceous matter and kaolins. Resources are estimated 
at 16 million tons containing about 54 pet manganese (20, 
p. 202). 

Development of this deposit would require the 
construction of about a 350-km railroad and a total rail 
haulage distance of about 1,500 km. High development 
and concentrate transportation costs, in addition to 
problems between the Ivory Coast and Upper Volta 
Governments regarding the railroad transport system and 
terms for the use of the port, have inhibited the 
development of this deposit. 



ALTERNATE SOURCES OF SUPPLY 



Probably the only long-term manganese supply that 
could be exploited by the United States at some future 
time is contained in sea nodules. The National Defense 
Stockpile could be used for a short-term supply. Steelmak- 
ing slags have also been mentioned as an alternative 
source, but there is no commercial developed technology 
for the recovery of the manganese contained in slags. 

SEA NODULES 



The technology necessary for mining and processing 
sea nodules has been under research and development for 
over 10 years. The major problems associated with mining 
are those connected with the raising of the manganese 
nodules from the seabed to a surface vessel. A number of 
processes for the extraction of the metals from the nodules 
have been examined including chemical, electrochemical, 
and pyrometallurgical. The most applicable process has 
not yet been established. 



Manganese nodules are widespread on the sea floor, 
particularly in the deeper sections. The composition of 
these nodules ranges from 1.8 pet to nearly 34 pet 
manganese. In nearly all cases, the manganese is 
associated with appreciable amounts of other valuable 
metals including cobalt, nickel, copper, and molybdenum. 
Although manganese comprises the major metallic consti- 
tuent, cobalt, nickel, and copper constitute the primary 
metals of economic importance. 

In the most promising area of the Pacific Ocean 
southwest of the Hawaiian Islands between latitude N 
8""30 and N 10W, and between longitude W 131° and W 
150". the average concentration of nodules is estimated at 
9.76 kg m grading 25 pet manganese, 1.28 pet nickel, 1.16 
pet copper, and 0.23 pet cobalt. Within the area, the total 
quantity of potentially recoverable metals is estimated, 
using 20-pct mining efficiency, at — 

Million tons 

500.0 

23.6 

20.0 

4.2 



Manganese 

Nickel 

Copper 
Cobalt 



STOCKPILE 

The National Defense Stockpile is a Government 
inventory system to meet essential military defense and 
civilian requirements in an emergency situation. It is not 
designed to control market prices or remedy short-term 
supply disruptions. 

A 1978 study (20) indicated that private inventories 
normally hold an estimated 10-month consumption 
supply, and the National Defense Stockpile carries an 
estimated 17-month inventory at normal U.S. consump- 
tion rates. 

At yearend 1981, private inventories carried about 
940,000 tons of all types of manganese ore, and the 
Government stockpile contained about 2.5 million tons of 
stockpile-grade metallurgical ore and about 870,000 tons 
of non-stockpile-grade metallurgical ore (19, 1981, pp. 
573-575). Based on the 1981 consumption rate of about 1 
million tons, these inventories, not including the non- 
stockpile-grade ore, would last about 3 years. 



18 



ENGINEERING AND ECONOMIC ANALYSES 



To determine the potential availability of manganese, 
engineering analyses of individual deposits were per- 
formed to determine the capital investment and operating 
cost per ton of marketable product produced. When 
available, actual data were used in the analysis. For any 
missing cost data, the computerized cost estimating 
system (CES), developed by the Bureau of Mines, was used 
to analyze the engineering parameters of the deposit. To 
standardize the evaluation, a 1981 U.S. dollar base was 
used in all cost analyses. Foreign costs were updated to 
the base year by applying cost indexes. Translation to U.S. 
dollars was made by applying the U.S. exchange rate to 
the appropriate country. All costs are assumed to 
represent the average costs for exploitation of the entire 
demonstrated resource and thus will not represent current 
costs. 

Mine capital investments were estimated for acquisi- 
tion, exploration mine development, and infrastructure. 
Included in the mine capital expenditures were the costs 
for mobile equipment, plant machinery, the engineering 
and construction management fee, and infrastructure 
facilities. Mill capital investments include all mill and 
beneficiation equipment and machinery, and also the 
engineering and construction management fee. Working 
capital was calculated as equal to 60 days of operating and 
administrative costs. Costs for environmental factors were 
not considered in the analyses. 

Total operating cost was computed as the total of 
direct and indirect costs of production. Direct operating 
cost includes operation and maintenance labor and 
supplies, supervision, payroll overhead, and utilities. 
Indirect operating costs include technical and clerical 
labor, administrative costs, maintenance of facilities, and 
research. 

Transportation costs were estimated for individual 
mine outputs. These estimates were based on interpreta- 
tions of costs of the various modes and distances of 
transport and an assumption of what appeared to be the 
most probable destinations of the concentrates consider- 
ing existing smelting areas. 

An important cost factor in mining and milling of 
manganese ore is for support of the facilities in remote 
areas where the mines are located. Virtually all the mines 
are located in remote areas, most of them extremely 
remote. Support facilities include such things as housing, 
employee training, medical facilities, schools, recreation, 
power, access transportation, etc. Even in South Africa 
where the mining areas were populated before mining 
commenced, there are no facilities to support an industrial 
operation such as mining, so these must be provided. In 
other areas such as Serra do Navio, Brazil, Groote 
Eylandt, Australia, and Moanda, Gabon, the operations 
are extremely remote and all services must be provided. 
These areas would also experience problems in the supply 
of materials and a very high personnel turnover. 

MINING 

Terrestrial manganese deposits are mined by either 
open pit or underground methods. The physical character 
of the ore body and maximum economic return influence 
the selection of the specific mining system for any deposit. 
Although surface mining is generally economically more 



advantageous than underground mining, underground 
operations are used when overburden stripping has 
reached the economic limit and where deposits are deep 
seated. The continuous character of the ore horizons in the 
major manganese resource areas permits highly mecha- 
nized operations in both open pit and underground mines. 
Room and pillar is the most widely used underground 
method. 

Of the mechanized operating mines evaluated in this 
study, eight are open pit and seven are underground. The 
Molango-Tetzintla Mine in Mexico has separate open pit 
and underground operations. In terms of both production 
capacity and demonstrated resource, the open pit mines 
account for about 60 pet of the total quantities. 

The mining operations in India are virtually all 
labor-intensive hand operations. In some cases a minor 
amount of mechanization is used, such as a bulldozer or 
shovel for removing overburden. In India, mining always 
begins with the excavation of ore on the outcrop; if the 
horizon is continuous and excessive overburden is 
encountered, mining is shifted to underground. 

In terms of both production and resources, the 
mechanized mines evaluated in this study account for 
nearly all of the total quantities. 

Mining costs estimated in this study range from about 
$6 to $14 per ton of ore in the mechanized operations. 
Costs for the mechanized underground mining operations 
are estimated to range between $10 and $14 per ton. Open 
pit operating costs are estimated to range from $6 to $9 
per ton. In the nonmechanized operations such as in India, 
where productivity may be as low at 0.1 ton per 
worker-shift, mining costs are estimated to reach $20 to 
$25 per ton. 

All underground mines, except the Middleplaats 
Mine in South Africa, are mining higher grade ore (plus 
44 pet manganese). The higher costs for the underground 
mines are compensated for in part by the high grade of 
ore, by the high degree of mechanization (Middleplaats), 
and by the ore characteristics as to being able to fit into 
the smelting complex, such as blending for special 
constituents, physical characteristics, etc. 



BENEFICIATION 

All manganese ores must be crushed and screened, 
and if the ore contains appreciable quantities of low-grade 
or barren clayey material, then washing is practiced. The 
adaptability of a particular beneficiation process depends 
upon the mineralogical character of the ore and the 
economics of the operation. In general, crushing, screen- 
ing, and washing may upgrade the product by only 1 to 3 
pet manganese. Washing can improve the product more if 
there is a significant content of lower grade clayey 
material, such as in the Groote Eylandt Mine in 
Australia. In most cases, however, the fines removed by 
washing contain relatively high values of manganese 
(approximately 20 to 30 pet manganese), and thus the 
recoveries are relatively low. Recoveries estimated for the 
operations in this study range from about 60 to 75 pet. 
Long-term recoveries are difficult to assess, however, 
because some of the material discarded at one time may 
be sold as low-grade blast furnace feed later, depending on 
demand. 



19 



Heavy-media separation can be used where there is a 
significant quantity of silica and alumina gangue in the 
ore and in some cases for upgrading chemical- and 
battery-grade ore. This process is currently in use at the 
Groote Eylandt Mine, the Molango-Tetzintla Mine in 
Mexico where silica gangue is encountered, and the Serra 
do Navio operations in Brazil in conjunction with 
reduction roasting and magnetic separation. 

Pelletizing of manganese fines (about minus 1.5 mm) 
in conjunction with heavy-media separation and spiraling 
is done by Serra do Navio Mines of Brazil. The final 
process is a reducing roast to convert hematitic gangue to 
magnetite. The magnetic fraction is removed, and the 
remainder of the material is pelletized. 

The nodulizing process is normally used in upgrading 
manganese carbonate ores. The process involves calcining 
the crushed ore in a rotary kiln to liberate carbon dioxide 
and to form nodules. Carbon dioxide is first liberated; then 
further heating softens the ore and forms sized nodules of 
about 25 mm. At the Molango Mine in Mexico the ore is 
nodulized and the Nsuta Mine of Ghana installed a 
nodulizing plant to upgrade the carbonate ores from 31 to 
about 44 pet manganese 23 I. 

In all processes, a certain amount of fines are 
produced which may or may not be further upgraded or 
shipped direct as sinter feed. All fines (generally minus 6 
mm' must be sintered, and this is done at the smelter 
installation. 

Recoveries of manganese in the processing operations 
are generally relatively low. ranging from about 60 to 75 
pet. The losses are the result of the fine material 
generated by the process not being adaptable to further 
processing. This may be the result either of dilution with 
clayey gangue or of fineness of the material produced in 
crushing and screening (generally less than 150 u.m>. The 
weighted average grade of all concentrates produced from 
the mines in this study is about 44 pet manganese. 

Beneficiation costs for crushing, screening, and 
washing are relatively standard, about SI to $2 per ton of 
feed. Where the ore is processed by simple crushing and 
screening, the costs would be in the lower part of this 
range. Washing would increase the costs by a relatively 
small amount. The higher range of the costs would be 
experienced in operations where other methods were used, 



such as heavy-media. Even heavy-media costs are not 
very significant, because generally only a small part of the 
feed passes through the heavy-media process. 

Of more importance in the beneficiation costs is the 
treatment of fines produced in the process. These fines are 
generally in the range of minus 5 to 6 mm plus 150 u.m 
and must be sintered before being adaptable to the 
production of ferromanganese. It is estimated that the 
amount of fines produced in the operations evaluated in 
this study ranges from about 25 to 50 pet. The costs 
of sintering these fines are estimated to range between 
about $12 and $16 per ton. These costs are prorated to the 
mill costs on an individual basis, depending on the 
amount of fines estimated for each operation. 

Nodulizing is done at two operations — Molango, 
Mexico, and Nsuta, Ghana; the incurred costs are mainly 
in fuel consumption. Assuming a heating requirement of 
3.5 to 4.0 million Btu per ton and 1,000 Btu per cubic foot 
of gas, the fuel requirement wuld be about 3,500 to 4,000 
ft 3 per ton of product. The advantage of this process is that 
the manganese content of the carbonate ore can be 
increased by 12 to 15 pet with little recovery loss. 

TRANSPORTATlbN 

Transportation is by far the most significant cost 
element in the production of manganese concentrates 
since nearly all the ore must be transported long distances 
to smelters. Even land transportation distances to 
smelters within the ore-producing countries are not 
significantly different from the distances required for 
export. Since there is virtually no possibility of develop- 
ment of manganese resources nearer to the major market 
areas, transportation will continue to be the major cost 
factor. 

A comparison of land transportation distances for 
export and in-country use is shown in table 6. 

Costs for land transportation by truck can vary 
greatly depending on road conditions and the type of 
haulage equipment used. For this study, data indicated 
that costs range from about $0.06 to $0.20 per ton- 
kilometer. Truck transportation costs are relatively 
insignificant in total world manganese production, howev- 





Table 6. — Manganese land transportation distances and modes 






Exported 


Domestic use: 


Country and mine 


Percent 
Distance (km) exported 
and mode Destination 


Distance 

(km) 
and mode 



1 6 — true* 

NAp 

i do Navw 200— rail 

JfUCUfT 30 — truck . ... 

2 700 — barge 
Sereno 930— I 

Gabon Moanda 76 — ropeway 

485— rail 
Ghana Nsuta 60 — rail 

India 

Central Baiagha- msar 450 — rail 

TVodt. Ukwa 
Kamataka BisgodMine 140— truck 

350— rail 
Mexico Tetzintla 230— truck 

South Ainca 

Kalahan F« - 1 .250— rail 

Postmasburg Field 1.1 50 

Upper Votta: Tambao 1 500— rail' 



Milner Bay 

, NAp 

Santana 

Corumba ■, 

Nueva Palmira. Uruguay } 

Sao Luis 

Railhead -. 

Pomte Noire. Congo J 

Takoradi 

Visakhapatnam and Bombay 

Beligondi 

Visakhapatnam and Bombay 

Tampico 

Port Elizabeth 

do 

Abidjam. Ivory Coast 



75 


100 

50 

50 

100 

100 

50 

70 
50 
50 

65 

65 

100 



16 — truck. 

30— truck. 
NAp 

1.50C— rail 

930— rail 

NAp 

NAp 

50— rail 

50— truck 
400— rail 
230— truck 

900— rail. 
800— rail 
NAp 



\~z Not app catte 
'Proposed explored depOBitl 



20 



Table 7. — Estimated manganese ore and concentrate ocean 
shipping rates 

(Dollars per ton) 

Destination 



Originating country United 

and port States Europe Japan 

Australia: 

Milner Bay 30 30 12 

Brazil: 

Santana 12 16 26 

Rio de Janeiro 18 22 30 

India: 

Visakhapatnam 36 30 18 

Bombay 32 26 22 

Mexico: Tampico 10 17 24 

Gabon: 

Pointe Noire, Congo 28 28 34 

Ghana: Takoradi 23 21 28 

South Africa: 

Port Elizabeth 30 30 32 

Upper Volta: 

Ivory Coast 23 21 28 



er, since they are involved in only a small number of 
mines. 

Rail haulage involves long distances in nearly all 
manganese operations. A number of factors can influence 
the costs of rail haulage, such as size of the cars, condition 
and availability of the track, use of multiple units (unit 
trains), or Government policies such as special taxes, 
tariffs, or rebates. For this study, rail haulage rates are 
estimated to range between about $0,020 and $0,035 per 
ton-kilometer. 

Ocean transportation is generally the highest cost 
element in the transportation of manganese concentrates 
to main market areas. Estimated ocean shipping rates 
from loading ports to the various use areas are shown in 
table 7. 

Cost data for ocean transportation are generally very 
difficult to obtain and can be unrepresentative when 
applied to specific cases. This is because rates can vary 
drastically, depending on the availability of ships. Also, 
different ports have different loading facilities that can 
affect costs. In addition, destinations of the concentrates 
can be extremely variable, generally on an annual basis, 
depending on contracts between buyers and sellers. Other 
variables in ocean shipping costs include the capacity of 
the ships, or whether or not the ships are under term 
contract or are owned by either the buyer or the producer. 
In some cases, prices for shipping are negotiated for each 
load. 



SMELTING 

Smelting of manganese ore for the production of 
ferromanganese is carried out in either a blast furnace or 
a submerged arc electric furnace. 

Blast furnace smelting can utilize iron blast furnaces 
converted to ferromanganese smelting. When this is the 
case, the primary use of the smelter is to supply the steel 
complex in which it is located. Excess production could be 
sold on the open market. An exception is the Boulogne 
blast furnace smelter in France, which was constructed for 
the purpose of supplying ferromanganese to the open 
market. The majority of ferromanganese sold on the open 
market, however, is produced in electric smelters. Any 
new smelters built will undoubtedly be electric furnaces. 

Electric furnaces can be used for producing all forms 
of manganese ferroalloy and other ferroalloys as well, 



whereas the blast furnace can only produce high-carbon 
ferromanganese. Recoveries in the electric furnace are 
higher when the slags, which may contain 30 to 35 pet 
manganese, are used to produce silicomanganese which 
may be used as is or can be used to produce medium- and 
low-carbon ferromanganese. The production of silicoman- 
ganese in the electric furnace process from these slags is 
mandatory, if the manganese in the slags is to be 
recovered. The slag is upgraded by the addition of 
manganese ore and resmelted to produce the silicoman- 
ganese. 

It is estimated that manganese recoveries to final 
products in the electric furnace would be about 95 pet and 
in the blast furnace about 80 to 85 pet (9, p. 63). If the slag 
in the electric furnace process were not used for 
silicomanganese production, electric furnace recoveries 
would be about the same as those for the blast furnace. 

A variable type and quality of manganese ores and 
concentrates is used in ferroalloy smelting, depending on 
the availability of specific types of ores and the desired 
quality and type of ferroalloy produced. For this reason, 
complex blending of the ores for ferromanganese smelter 
feed is done at all smelters. The blending will nearly 
always include ores from four or five different sources. 
Blending is not entirely contingent upon manganese 
content but may be used to control the quantity of other 
constituents such as iron, silica, phosphorus, alumina, 
alkalies, and manganese and calcium oxides. In South 
Africa, a mixture of the high-grade, high-iron Wessels ore 
is blended with the relatively low grade, low-iron 
Mamatwan ore to obtain a higher manganese-to-iron ratio 
(15, p. 19). The nodules produced from the Molango ore in 
Mexico must also be blended with a higher grade ore to 
produce a market-grade ferromanganese, and the ores in 
the Urucum area in Brazil must be blended to dilute the 
high alkali content. 

It is estimated that the ore-producing countries have 
the manganese ferroalloy production capacity to utilize 
about 26 pet of their ore production capacities estimated 
in this study, based on an average usage of about 2.2 tons 
of ore per ton of ferromanganese and 1.4 tons of ore per ton 
of silicomanganese produced. Ferroalloy production capa- 
cities of the major ore importing and exporting countries 
are shown in table 8. 

The only recent development in the construction of 
new ferroalloy smelters is the 72,000-ton-per-year plant at 
Tumsar, India, which was built to utilize the ores of the 
Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra area in central India. 

In view of the 11.6 million tons of manganese ore 
production in 1982, there is a substantial overcapacity in 
smelters at the present time. Assuming 25 pet of the ore 
(approximately 35 pet manganese) is used as blast furnace 
feed, and about 500,000 tons is used for the battery and 
chemical industry, the effective ore production designated 
for ferromanganese smelter feed would be about 9.1 
million tons, or about 76 pet of the smelting capacity. 

Using the factors of 2.2 and 1.4 tons of concentrate per 
ton of ferromanganese and silicomanganese, respectively, 
about 8.5 million tons of concentrate would be used in 
1982. This would leave a concentrate surplus of about 
400,000 tons, even though only about 76 pet of the 
smelting capacity was being used. 

The smelting overcapacity has caused a shutdown of a 
number of smelters in trie ore-importing countries. As an 
example, the United States had only 1 ferromanganese 
smelter operating as of January 1983 out of 11 available. 



21 



Table 8. — Annual manganese ferroalloy capacities and ore requirements of major ore Importing and exporting countries 

(Tons) 



Ferromanganese 



Silicomanganese 



Capacity 



Ore 
requirement 



Capacity 



Ore 
requirement 



Total ore 
requirement 



ORE-IMPORTING COUNTRIES OR AREAS 



Canada 

Western Europe 

Japan 

United States 

Total 

Austrai a 

Brazil 

India 

Mexico 

South Afnca 

Total 

Grant total 
Assumed maximum 



90 000 

1.908.000 

727.000 

'350.000 



198.000 
4.198.000 
1.542.000 

770.000 



50.000 
427.000 
575.000 
240.000 



3.049.000 



6.709.000 



1.292.000 



70,000 
598,000 
805,000 
336,000 



1,809,000 



268,000 
4,796,000 
2,347,000 
1,106,000 



8,517,000 



ORE-EXPORTING COUNTRIES 



1 1 5.000 
140.000 
307,000 
150.000 
563.000 



253.000 
308.000 
675.000 
330.000 
1.239.000 



25,000 

180,000 

56,000 

50,000 

122,000 



1.275.000 



2.805.000 



433.000 



4.324.000 



9,513,000 



1,725,000 



35,000 

252,000 

78,000 

70,000 

171,000 



606,000 



2,415,000 



288,000 
560,000 
753,000 
400,000 
1,410,000 



3,411,000 



1 1 ,928,000 



It is possible that in the event of future increases in 
ferromanganese demand, the ore-producing countries will 
attempt to expand their existing smelting facilities to 
meet the demand. 

A smelter operating cost is assumed for the deposits 
evaluated in this study to illustrate the effect of the cost 
components of mining, beneficiation, transportation, and 
smelting on the total production costs. For this purpose, it 
is assumed that average operating cost for a smelter 
would be about $117 per ton of concentrate in all countries 
except South Africa and India. In South Africa, smelting 
costs are assumed to be about 8 pet lower, or about $108 
per ton of concentrate. This is because the main smelting 
installation iMeyertom is relatively modern and efficient. 
In India, because of the lower degree of mechanization, 
smelting costs are assumed at $135 per ton of concentrate. 

In Western Europe and Japan, labor costs are 
generally lower than in the United States, but it is 
assumed that this is compensated for by higher power 
costs. 

In Brazil, the smelters in the Corumba area have low 
powers costs; however, these plants are relatively remote, 
and supplies and the ferromanganese product must be 
transported relatively great distances. In addition, most of 
the plants in Brazil are small and therefore would not 
have cost economies of scale. 

The concentrates in Mexico (about 39 pet manganese) 
must be blended with imported high-grade concentrate to 
make a marketable alloy, and in Australia high labor 
rates could compensate for the low power rates. 




200 500 

RECOVERABLE MANGANESE, m.ll.on tons 



Figure 7.— Market economy country manganese production 
costs. 



PRODUCTION COST SUMMARY 

Comparative operating costs to produce manganese 
ore and concentrates and ferromanganese are illustrated 
in figure 7. All costs are direct operating costs in terms of 
dollars per long ton unit of contained manganese in ore 
and therefore represent the effect of manganese grade on 
the cost elements. Additionally, the costs are based on 
mining and beneficiation of the entire resource and do not 
include taxes, insurance, brokerage fees, warehousing, 
etc., or profit or rate of return on investments. Transporta- 
tion and smelting costs that are assigned to particular 
mines and deposits are based on assumed delivery 
patterns to areas of smelting. 



As shown in figure 7, estimated mine operating costs 
range from about $0.20 to $0.34 per unit, and beneficia- 
tion costs range from about $0.05 to $0.45 per unit. The 
major variance in the milling costs represents nodulizing 
and the amount of sintering required. 

Transportation costs show the largest variance of all 
costs — from about $0.30 to $1 per unit. These costs are 
dependent on the geographic location of the mines and the 
modes of transportation to market areas. 

The relationships of the cost elements through 
concentrate production and delivery to the smelting areas 
and through smelting are shown in figures 8 and 9, 
respectively. 

As previously stated, U.S. dependence on ferroman- 



22 




Figure 8. — Relationship of cost elements through manganese 
ore and concentrate production. 



Beneficiation 
3 pet 




Figure 9. — Relationship of cost elements through ferroman- 
ganese production. 



ganese from non-U. S. sources has increased in recent 
years. The increased imports have been not only from 
ore-producing countries but also from countries that 
import the ore, smelt it, and ship the ferromanganese to 
the United States. On a per unit of contained Mn basis, 
there appears to be more of a transportation cost 
advantage to shipping the ore to the United States for 
smelting rather than importing the ferromanganese. 



Table 9. — Manganese ore and ferromanganese transportation 

costs, comparing smelting in South Africa and in the United 

States 

(U.S. dollars) 

Smelting in Smelting in the 

South Africa United States 

Per ton Per unit Per ton Per unit 
product contained Mn product contained Mn 

Mine to smelter (ore) 16.00 0.36 NAp NAp 

Smelter to port (ore) NAp NAp 25.00 0.57 

Smelter to port 

(ferromanganese) 34.80 .47 NAp NAp 

Shipment from South Africa 
to U.S. market: NAp NAp 30.00 .68 

Ore 36.00 .49 NAp NAp 

Ferromanganese 

Total NAp " 1 .32 NAp 1 .25 

NAp Not applicable. 



Using South Africa (the largest ferromanganese 
supplier to the United States) as an example, and a 
similar type of ore (estimated 44 pet manganese) and 
ferromanganese at 74 pet manganese, table 9 shows 
transportation costs for shipping ore versus ferroman- 
ganese to the United States. 

The shipping distance for transporting the ore to 
South Africa smelters was assumed at 800 km; distance 
for shipping the ore to Port Elizabeth for export was 
assumed at 1,250 km. To ship the ferromanganese to ports 
for export, a distance of 1,450 km was assumed. Costs of 
$0,020 and $0,024 per ton-kilometer were assumed for ore 
and ferromanganese rail transportation, respectively. 

If 51 -pet- manganese Gabon ore were used as a 
comparison, the difference would be greater since the 
comparable transportation cost would be about $48 per 
ton of concentrates from the mine, or about $0.94 per unit 
of manganese ($48/51 units of manganese per ton). Thus 
the transportation cost advantage of smelting Gabon ore 
in the United States instead of importing ferromanganese 
smelted in South Africa from South African ore would be 
about $1.32 minus $0.94, or about $0.38 per unit. 

Table 10 shows comparison of transportation costs 
involved in ferromanganese smelting in France (the 
second largest U.S. supplier of ferromanganese) and the 
United States. For this example, Gabon concentrates (51 
pet manganese) are used. The locations of the plants in 
this example are Boulogne in France and Marietta, Ohio. 

As near as can be determined, the ocean shipping 
rates between the port of origin (Pointe Noire, Congo) and 
either Boulogne, France, or New Orleans are similar at an 
estimated $28 per ton. Since Boulogne is a seaport, costs 
for delivery to the smelter are less than the barging costs 
from New Orleans to Marietta as shown in table 10. This 
difference is more than offset by the ferromanganese 
transportation costs from France to the United States. 

Table 10. — Manganese ore and ferromanganese transportation 
costs, comparing smelting in France and in the United States 

(U.S. dollars per long ton unit) 



Smelting in 
France 



Smelting in 
United States 



Ore: 

Transportation to France 0.55 

Delivery to smelter location .02 

Ferromanganese: 

Transportation to the United States .37 

Delivery to market areas .16 

Total 1.10 

NAp Not applicable. 



0.55 
.16 

NAp 
.07 



.78 



23 



AVAILABILITY OF MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY MANGANESE 



This study analyzed potential manganese production 
based upon the demonstrated resources of 31 manganese 
mines and deposits in 9 market economy countries 
(including the United States); of these resources, an in 
situ amount of about 2.2 billion tons was represented and 
provided a total production potential of approximately 514 
million tons of contained manganese in concentrates. The 
economic evaluations of each deposit were performed 
using discounted cash flow rate of return (DCFROR) 
techniques. 

All economic evaluations were performed using the 
computerized Supply Analysis Model (SAM) (2). This 
evaluation determines the cost of the manganese that 
equates the present value of revenues over the life of the 
mine to the present value of all costs of production, 
including a prespecified rate of return on investment. This 
determined value is equivalent to the long-run total cost 
of production for the deposit under a set of assumptions 
and conditions (e.g., mine plan, design capacity produc- 



tion, and a market for all output) that are necessary in 
order to make an evaluation. This long-run total cost was 
determined (in January 1981 dollars) at an assumed rate 
of ret lrn of 15 pet over the life of the deposit. 

The model contains a separate tax record file for each 
foreign country and automatically applies and relevant 
tax information to each deposit under evaluation. In 
addition, it holds a separate file of economic indexes to 
permit continuous updating of all cost estimates. 

Using January 1981 as the initial year, a cash flow 
generation of individual preproduction and production 
years was performed. After the cash flow generation, all 
properties under study were analyzed and aggregated to 
estimate manganese availability curves. 

The availability of manganese from a deposit is 
presented in this study as a function of total cost 
associated with development, mining, concentration, and 
transportation. The evaluations are based on the utiliza- 
tion of the entire resource of each deposit. 



POTENTIAL TOTAL MANGANESE PRODUCTION 
(CONTAINED IN CONCENTRATE) 



The potential production of manganese based on the 
long-run total cost of each operatiop is illustrated in figure 
10. At a 15-pct DCFROR, the individual deposit costs 
range from about $1 to $35 per long ton unit of contained 
manganese in concentrate. These costs are for the 
delivered material to ferromanganese smelting areas and 
are estimated to include costs that would be incurred in 
exploitation of the entire resource of each deposit. 

The curve estimates the availability of manganese 
that is potentially recoverable at certain costs. At up to 
$1.50 per long ton unit, the total potential recoverable 
manganese (metal > is about 213 million tons. At up to 
$1.75. total potential recoverable manganese would be 
about 428 million tons, and about 491 million tons would 
be available at up to about $3.25. The analyses were 
performed in constant January 1981 dollars. 

The U.S. total potential recoverable 
amounts to approximately 23 million tons 
reflected on the curve. This is because 
determined long-run total cost for U.S. manganese 
resources is about $8 per long ton unit of contained 
manganese, which is approximately 2V2 times greater 
than the highest cost for any foreign operation. This 
determined long-run total cost causes all U.S. potentially 



manganese 
and is not 
the lowest 




50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 
TOTAL RECOVERABLE MANGANESE, million metric Tons 

Figure 10.— Cost and total availability of world manganese; 
cost is in January 1981 dollars and includes a 15-pct DCFROR. 

recoverable manganese to fall beyond the scale of the 
curve. An analysis of U.S. potential manganese resources 
is discussed in BuMines IC 8889 (10). 



24 



POTENTIAL ANNUAL MANGANESE PRODUCTION 



Another method of illustrating manganese availabil- 
ity is to disaggregate the total resource availability curve 
and show potential production on an annual basis. Figure 
11 illustrates the potential annual production of contained 
manganese in concentrates at various determined long- 
run total costs from 1981 through 2025. The curves are 
based on current production capacities for the producing 
mines and estimated design capacities for the two 
nonproducing operations. The annual curve does not take 
into account possible delays caused by environmental, 
legal, fiscal, financial, market, or other problems. 

The figure also illustrates that 75 pet, or approx- 
imately 5.8 million tons, of the total potential annual 
manganese production is available at a cost of $1.75 or 
less per long ton unit. 

These analyses indicate that present potential annual 
capacity can very well handle the free world market 
requirements through the year 2025 without any addi- 
tional capacity expansion, assuming no significant in- 
crease in demand over that of the average 1976-82 
production rate. 



/ 



6 5 



0<— 
1981 



'•N— > $0-$4.00 



\ 



$0-$2.SO "A 

'\ 

$0-$l.75 ','■ 



$0- $1.50 



•■-,.v ; 



2006 2011 2016 2021 



2026 



Figure 1 1 .—Cost and annual availability of world manganese; 
cost is in January 1981 dollars and includes a 15-pct DCFROR. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The demonstrated in situ resources contained in the 
31 mines and deposits analyzed in this study amount to 
approximately 2.2 billion tons in 9 market economy 
countries (including the United States). From this 
demonstrated resource, an estimated 514 million tons of 
manganese is recoverable. The analyses indicate (given 
all parameters remain constant as of the initial year, 
1981) that at a long-run total cost per deposit of up to 
$1.75 per long ton unit, over 30 pet of this material (about 
413 million tons) is potentially available. Operating 
mines in Australia, Brazil, Gabon, and South Africa 
account for approximately 98 pet of the total available at 
this indicated cost. 

Demonstrated resources of manganese are sufficient 
to serve well into the next century. Based on the average 
1976-82 production rate of about 13.7 million tons and 
assuming between 5 and 6 million tons of manganese 
content, the demonstrated resources of the current 
operating mines would last about 80 years. As manganese 
deposits with tonnage estimates at the identified resource 
level, such as in Australia, Brazil, Gabon, and South 
Africa, are further explored, they could be upgraded to 
demonstrated resources, significantly increasing the fu- 
ture availability of manganese. 

On the basis of contained manganese in concentrate, 
nearly 80 pet of the market economy country demons- 
trated resource included in this study is contained in 
seven operating units: Groote Eylandt, Australia; Serra 
do Navio, Brazil; Moanda, Gabon; and the Black Rock 
area, Middleplaats, Wessels, and Mamatwan, South 
Africa. 

This study analyzed only the deposits containing 
material of current mining grade with the exception of the 
United States. The only foreign area where lower grade 
resources have been quantified is South Africa. These 



resources amount to approximately 5.7 billion tons 
containing 30 to 38 pet manganese and a further 5.1 
billion tons containing 20 to 30 pet manganese. Un- 
doubtedly, lower grade resources may also occur in 
association with other known deposits as well, although 
apparently very little work has been done to delineate 
them. 

Thus, it appears quite definite that the long-term 
world supply of manganese will be from the current 
producing areas. The major consuming areas of the United 
States, Western Europe, and Japan have no resources that 
can impact this current supply status. 

The most significant cost element in the manganese 
ore production process is transportation. By far the 
majority of production is from highly mechanized opera- 
tions. Concentration of the ore generally involves 
crushing, screening, and washing, and thus these costs are 
relatively uniform. 

The long-term world situation with regard to man- 
ganese supply is principally one of competition between 
the major producing mines for markets. In that seven 
operating units, all in a current competitive cost position 
account for over 400 million tons of recoverable man- 
ganese, the long-range manganese supply for approx- 
imately the next 80 years is assured. 

In recent years, the manganese ferroalloy smelting 
capacity of the United States has decreased significantly, 
as is indicated by a change in the relative import 
quantities of ferroalloys versus ore. This has been caused 
in part by increases in smelting capacities in the 
ore-producing countries. By contrast, there has been 
comparatively little decline in smelter production in 
Western Europe, which exports ferromanganese to the 
United States. This is evidenced by the fact that in the 
period 1973-78, U.S. imports of ferromanganese increased 



25 



by over 200 pet. while the imports of other consuming 
areas (Western Europe and Japan) did not perceptibly 
increase. 

One deterrent to the smelting of manganese concen- 
trates in the United States is that none of the smelters is 
integrated with the steel companies, such as is the case in 
Japan, where the ferroalloy could be supplied to the steel 
plants at cost if necessary. 

As of 1983. market conditions in the market economy 



countries will sustain only about 76 pet of the available 
smelter capacity. Undoubtedly, some of the shutdown 
smelters will not reopen even if it is warranted by 
increased demand because of the inefficiency of the 
operations. If demand should be projected to exceed the 
effective smelter capacity in the future, it is expected that 
the ore-producing countries would attempt to increase 
their capacities to meet this demand. 



REFERENCES 



1. Clavillo. M. T. Autlan. High Resources Will Feed Steel 
Industry's Manganese Demand. Eng. and Min. J., v. 181. No. 11, 
1980. pp. 107-108. 

2. Davidoff, R. L. Supplv Analysis Model (SAM): A Minerals 
Availability System Methodology ."BuMines IC 8820, 1980, 45 pp. 

3. DeHuff. G. L. Manganese. Ch. in Minerals Facts and 
Problems. BuMines B 671. 1980. pp. 549-562. 

4. DeHuff. G. L.. and T. S. Jones. Manganese. BuMines 
Mineral Commodity Profile. 1979, 19 pp. 

5. Dorr. J. V.. M. D. Crittenden, and R. G. Worl. Manganese. In 
United States Mineral Resources. U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 
820. 1973. pp. 385-^00. 

6. Duke, V. W. A. (comp.). Manganese, A Mineral Commodity 
Review. South Africa Department of Mines, Minerals Bureau 
Internal Report 53. 1979, 246 pp. 

7. ICOMI ilndustria Comerio de Minerios S.A.). Contribution 
to the Round Table on Supply and Demand of Terrestrial 
Manganese Ores. European Economic Council, Brussels, Dec. 
4-5, 1979. 20 pp. 

8. Industrial Minerals. Manganese Non-Metallic Market De- 
velopments. August 1980, p. 23 

9. International Iron and Steel Institute. Manganese and the 
Iron and Steel Industry. Brussels, 1980, 77 pp. 

10. Kilgore, C. C. and P. R. Thomas. Manganese Availabil- 
ity — Domestic. A Minerals Availability System Appraisal. 
BuMines IC 8889. 1982. 14 pp. 

11. Metal Bulletin, Ferro Alloys, a World Survey. Metal 
Bulletin. Ltd.. 1979, pp. 155-157. 

12. Mining Magazine. Groote Eylandt. V. 144, No. 3, 1981, pp. 
216-225. 

13. Tamboa Manganese Deposits, Upper Volta. V. 

144. No. 6. 1981, p. 437. 



14. Narayanaswami, S. The Geology and Manganese-Ore 
Deposits of the Manganese Belt in Madhya Pradesh and 
Adjoining Parts of Maharashtra. Geol. Survey of India, Bull. 22, 
Series A, Economic Geology, Part I, 1963, p. 60. 

15. National Materials Advisory Board, National Research 
Council-National Academy of Sciences. Manganese Reserves and 
Resources of the World and Their Industrial Implications. 
NMAB-374, Washington, DC, 1981, 334 pp.; NTIS, PB 82- 
117615. 

16. Taljaardt, J. J. Major Manganese Ore Fields, Republic of 
South Africa. Johannesburg, November 1979 (updated November 
1982), 11 pp. 

17. U.S. Bureau of Mines, Mineral 'Commodity Summaries, 
1983, pp. 96-97. 

18. Minerals Yearbook 1976-81. Chapter on Ferroal- 
loys. 

19. Minerals Yearbooks 1976-82. Chapter on Man- 
ganese. 

20. U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and 
Research. The World Manganese Market: A Status Report. 
Report 920 (unclassified), Feb. 6, 1978, 10 pp. 

21. U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Mines. 
Principles of a Resource Reserve Classification for Minerals. U.S. 
Geol. Survey Circ. 831, 1980, 5 pp. 

22. Vasudeva, O. P. Status of Manganese Mining in India — 
Problems and Prospect. Indian Mining, 1977 Annual Review, pp. 
31-36. 

23. World Mining. Ghana Manganese Will Extend Life by 
Nodulizing Carbonate Ore Reserves. V. 31, No. 12, 1978, p. 79. 



26 



APPENDIX.— MINES AND DEPOSITS INVESTIGATED BUT 
NOT EVALUATED FOR THIS STUDY 



Country and mine or deposit Comments 

Argentina: Fallaron Negro Small resource, production of about 25,000 tons per 

year as byproduct of a gold-silver mine. 

Bolivia: Mutum Resource has not been established. 

India: 

Barbil Included in Keonjhar District. 

Chickla Small resource. 

Gumagon Do. 

Beldongri Do. 

Kuhiuga Do. 

Bicholim-Sirigoa Principally an iron deposit. 

Harbaliem Do. 

Morocco: Imini All chemical grade, small resource. 

South Africa: 

Annex Langdon Nearly mined out. 

Hotazel Do. 

National Do. 

Rand London All chemical grade, small resource. 

Devon Included in Black Rock area. 

Adams Do. 

Mukulu Do. 

Smartt Resources low grade. 

Paling Resources small, shut down, will not reopen. 

Bishop Do. 

Gloucester Do. 



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